


Strike Witches Assault

by Jakers_Reviews



Category: Strike Witches
Genre: Gen, General fiction, Literature, fan fiction
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-07-08
Updated: 2015-09-09
Packaged: 2018-04-08 08:23:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 22,990
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4297554
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jakers_Reviews/pseuds/Jakers_Reviews
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A Reboot of Strike Witches, Starting from Yoshika Miyafuji's recruitment into the 501st Division on up. Whole new world! Whole New Story! And, most shockingly of all... PANTS!</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Yoshika Miyafuji

**Author's Note:**

> Well... this one was a long one in the works.
> 
> And thus, I launch my own Strike Witches Reboot. This is chapter 1
> 
> There's a reason Yoshika is referred to as Miya. This will only be so for this chapter. Chapters 2 and up will only refer to Yoshika as Yoshika.
> 
> Fun Fact: I couldn't think of a fitting name for his chapter, so I did that thing where you name a chapter after a character. I don't think I'll be needing to do this too often.
> 
> To avoid any spoilers, notes will from Chapter 2 onward be below the story.

A girl with brown hair and with matching brown eyes walk down a hallway to turn in her report. “I think they’ll be happy to read this.” She said, going over every page. “Okay, okay, titles are right. Text is professional. Everything is in proper order. Everyone on my team turned in their proportion. Seems to be just fine. With any luck, she’ll be fine with me being late.” The brown-haired girl walked to the tall young women at the end of the hall. sitting behind a desk. 

“Hello.” The red-haired, red-eyed woman in front of her.

“Commanding Officer Minna-Dietlinde Wilcke!” The brown haired girl said, saluting to attention.

“Always have to be proper, don’t you? I’ve told you countless times call me Minna.” Minna said to the girl. “So, I assume you’re here to turn in your latest report?” Minna said.

“Yes, Officer Minna.” She turned in the paper to Minna. “I’m terribly sorry for being late. I know it’s unacceptable but I-”

“Gertrud, calm down. Your fifteen minutes late. That can be contributed to mere bad luck. You could of very well have tripped and had to re-organize your papers.”

“But, I didn’t.” Gertrud said.

“Yeah.” Retorted a smiling Minna. “But who really needs to know that?” She then stood up, took Gertrud’s paper, and placed it into the proper tray for later.

“Hey, I’ve been meaning to ask Sakamoto something, but I can’t find her anywhere. Where is she?”

“Didn’t you hear, she was on the ship leaving for Fuso the other day. Should be arriving there in a few more days, now that I think of it.”

Gertrud had a look of shock and some level of confusion. “She was on that? Who else?”

“She went alone, witch-wise that is. She’s in Fuso looking for a particular witch.”

“Great…” Gertrud said, turning around and leaving the room, saying “another rookie. You would think Sakamoto would make Lynette a strong witch before recruiting another.”

Upon shutting the door, Minna merely sighed to herself, remembering it’s just Gertruds “hard truth” mentality. “Well, she’s still more fitting to lead than Laura.” She then sat back down, opened a newspaper, and began reading.

**_ A few days later _ **

A girl with brown hair and with matching brown eyes walks down a hallway, observing her end of semester report. Upon opening it up, the girls eyes merely came to acceptance of 'averageness' that was to be expected from the report - she really shouldn’t of expected much more. And thus the girl sighed once more and proceeded to wander outside of the school. With the school day and year being done, it’s not like there’s any reason to stick around.

“Hey, Miya!” Our brown haired girl, Yoshika Miyafuji, turned her head to see her friendly cousin, Michiko Yamakawa. “How did you do this semester?”

“Micchan, hello.” Miya said, waving to the blue-haired school girl. “Well, average as usually. Just general Marks*, a few Above Average Marks, and one Below Average one.”

“Ah, well, I didn’t do much better.” The two reports changed hands as the two girls compared their marks on their way home. “Hey, Miya, is it okay if I come over for a bit? My family’s working over time, and I don’t want to-”

“Sure, Micchan. I don’t mind!” 

As if on cue, a neighboring farmer, likely in his later fifties, came up on his horse-powered wagon. “Well, if it isn’t Miya and Mich. Schools out for the year, right?”

“That’s right, Miyamoto.” Miya then realized something. “Huh… Can we get a lift back home?”

“Huh? Oh, sure, hope on.” The two girls hopped onto the wagon, with it lacking any produce. “Say now, I’m ‘a bit curious - how do you normally get home?”

“Well, I usually just tough out the walk…” Miya awkwardly rubbed the back of her head, smiling. “I guess I’m just lazy today.”

“Ah, no worry. We all get tired, so I don’t mind.” Miyamoto and Yoshika both threw conversation piece after conversation piece to each other, with Michiko sitting back and relaxing about the upcoming summer.

As they went on there trip, they left the towns area to enter the hilly countryside, where Miya and Micchan both lived. Michiko started to show some concern as they reached Tips Pass, a rather steep five and a half foot drop. “Sorry, Miyafuji, but I need to focus now.”

“I understand.” Miya said, turning her attention to Michiko; her uneasiness not going unnoticed.

“Don’t worry, miss, I know his road like the back of my hand.” Before Miyamoto could turn around, however, a sudden red explosion could be seen, and more importantly heard, from the sky. The noise sent the horses into a frenzy, causing them to jump up, getting the back wagon to get un-hooked, and tip over onto the hill - causing it to fall apart. 

Miya was able to get out with minor scrapes and bruises, but a check on Michiko turned up less fortunate news. She has a piece of wood jabbed into her chest. Thankfully, it wasn’t through her heart.  _Still, I need to do something…_ She removed the wood, and then placed her hand over her chest.  _Come on, Michiko, stay with me._

Her hands began to glow, and the blood slowed down a little bit, but it won’t stop.  _I’m… still not good enough at this._

“Miya-chan…” Miya looked over at her head to see her eye, barely, open. “Don’t waste… your magic on me…”

“DON’T BE CRAZY! I’LL… I’LL SAVE YOU!!” 

“Miya, please…” Michiko lost consciousness.

“YOU’RE NOT GONNA DIE! I WON’T LET YOU!”

“Miyafuji! Stop!” She looked up to see Miyamoto at the top. He had a strange look on his face, one of a mixture of fear and sadness. “I have the horses under control. I can see from here you’ve slowed down the bleeding.” Miya looked up, not sure how to react. “If we hurry, we can get to your house were your mother can finish up” 

Running out of options, Miya picked up her friend - somehow, and carried her out the hill and placed her into the cart.  _Impressive, I wouldn’t of guessed Miyafuji to be that strong._

“Miyamoto…” _Why… is my vision fading._ “Will Michiko be okay?” *Thud*

Miya woke up back at her house. “Oh, good to have you awake.” Her grandmother, Akimoto, smiled at her drowsy granddaughter. “Dont worry, Michiko will be fine. I’ve managed to stop the bleeding.” She turned her attention back to Michiko, focusing her magic into healing her. 

“How did I get here?” 

“Well, Yoshika, I came by to check on the explosion outside, and when I saw Miyamoto getting his horses under control…

**_ -Flashback- _ **

“Hey, Miyamoto!” he didn’t turn around. “It’s me, Sayaka!”

THAT got his attention. “Sayaka! No time, follow me.”

_So I did. I tried to, at least. For a man his age and his stature, he’s a fine runner. By the time I got there, you were already out cold._

“Look, Michiko is in need of medical aid, and your daughter just passed out bringing her up the pass. I’ll take Michiko if you can handle your daughter.”

**_ -End of Flashback- _ **

“I don’t know how, but he knew what was going through my head.” Miya looked over at her friend.

“Micchan - I’m sorry.” She managed to whisper out.

“Honey, don’t worry. She’ll be okay. Your grandmother is as good with magic as anyone could be around here.”

“Well, that’s a relief.” Miya smiled, glad she could breathe easy once more.

“Anyway, I’m impressed you managed to get her up that steep climb. How did you do that.”

“Well, to be honest, I don’t really know. I just knew what I needed to do, and I just, well, did it.” Miya blushed a little bit at that, with her mother patting her on the head.

“Well, I’m proud of you either way. By the way, did you get your Report back today?” Miya’s grades became the focus of the next hour or so of talking.

Meanwhile, in a nearby bush, a man in a jeep removed the binoculars from his eyes, with a woman with only one eye behind him. “Are you she this is the place, commander?”

“Yep.” She casually said. “The girl matched the image perfectly. What information do you have on her?”

The soldier pulled a file out of the glove compartment of the jeep. “Her grades and athletic performance are only average, her only standout skill shown seems to be cooking.” He looked away from the file, and back at the commander. “Should we go in and ask?” The lady then got up, and removed her eye patch.

“No, I see they’re tending to someone injured, possibly from the Neuroi Aircraft we just destroyed. Let’s give her some time.” She then got up, closing her patch. “But I’ve made my decision. I will have Yoshika Miyafuji join Strike Witches!” She then pumped her hand into the air, smiling in her own self confidence.

“Whatever you say, Commander Sakamoto.”

  



	2. Sakamoto's Deal

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sakamoto has a deal for Yoshika that... she can refuse?

**Chapter 2: Sakamoto's Deal**

A few hours later, Michiko was able to at least sit up on her own. “Hey, Miya-chan. Did I pass out or AHHH!”

“Michiko, you need to rest a bit longer, at least for the rest of the day.”

“But, my parents!”

“Don’t worry. Our neighbor, Miyamoto, left a note for your parents at their house. They should know you’re here.” Sayaka explained. Michiko breathed in a sigh of relief, followed by a growl from her stomach.

“Sounds like my friend is hungry!” Yoshika smiled, getting up.

“Hold on, Yoshika. In case you forgot, you’re still rather weak on magic right now. You need rest too. I’ll cook dinner tonight.”

Yoshika’s pouty face went full force. “You’re no fun, sometimes.”

“That’s the sign of a great mother, you know.” Sayaka smiled back. The noise of a vehicle driving up to the house followed the remark.

***Knock* *Knock* *Knock***

“Now, who could that be?” Sayaka opened the door, finding her answer in the form of a young woman with an eye patch and, oddly enough, hot pants, and a military button shirt.

“Hello, is this the Miyafuji Health Clinic?”

“Yes… and you might be?” The lady whispered into her ears, all while the other three watched in anticipation. The exact moment she finished, two stomachs growled. “It seems you and your friend out there are hungry, too. Care to join us for dinner?”

“Thank you.” She said. The man behind her, wearing an aviator jacket and pilot helmet, ran in like a young child.

“God bless ya.” he said, zooming in.

“Uh, you’re welcome.”

_**-30 Minutes Later-** _

“Here we are!” Sayaka placed out all the ramen she made. “Since we have twice as many mouths to feed as usual, I couldn’t go all out, but it should be good none the less! Less dig in!” The two guests wasted no time eating. In fact, they shoved their faces in with as much as they could. “Hungry, huh?”

The girl swallowed, apologizing. “Sorry for being rude, we just haven’t eaten in 2 days. It’s been crazy trying to find this place, and we’ve had some accidents on the way here.”

“Well, I guess it’s a good thing you found us when you did.” Yoshika innocently added.

“Yeah, it is.” The man said, swallowing the last of his bowl. “Oh, Commander!”

“Yes?”

“I just realized, we haven’t introduced ourselves.”

“Oh, you’re right!” Sakamoto stood up. “I’m Mio Sakamoto, Commanding Officer in the 501st Strike Witches Division!”

“I’m Kyle Yeaser, Liberion Ace Pilot. I’m here as back-up for Sakamoto.” He smiled, as they sat back down, and continued eating, albeit at a much slower pace. “Bis is burd” Said Kyle, forgetting to swallow his ramen before talking again. (He was trying to say “This is good”).

“Oh, really?” Sayaka said, smiling. “Thank you.”

“Hehehe, you can actually understand him?” Sakamoto asked, jokingly.

“Yeah, Yoshika tends to do the same thing.”

“Mut ‘bout mh?” Sakamoto and Sayaka started laughing.

***Gulp***  “So I’m not the only one doing that?” Laughed Kyle.

After finishing everything, the group of six sat down to relax a bit. Akimoto was able to finish healing Michiko, with Yoshika giving her one of her shirts to wear home. “See you later, Miya-chan!”

“Bye, Mich-chan!” Yoshika yelled, smiling and waving to her smiling and waving friend. She closed the door, and turned her attention to Sakamoto. “Sakamoto, may I ask you something?”

“Sure, ask away.”

“Why are you here?” Sakamoto looked over to Sayaka, with Sayaka shaking her head in approval.

“Well, as I said, I’m with Strike Witches, a government-organized division of witches meant to fight off the Neuroi.” Yoshika hand a confused look on her face. “Do you even know what a Neuroi is?” Yoshika shook her head side to side. *sign* “Well, they’re the reason so much of the world is in trouble.”

“Okay, but what does all of this have to do with me?”

“The answer just asked the question.” Sakamoto said.

“Huh?”

“I think she means she came her for you.” Everyone turned to see Michiko, having opened the door without them noticing. “By the way, you forgot to lock the door.” She came in, and sat down next to Yoshika. “I came back because I left my semester report, but this is more important.”

“She is right, Yoshika. I’m here to recruit you into Strike Witches!” Sakamoto pumped her fist into the air. “So, are you in?”

“No.” Sakamoto’s face went from energized to complete defeat.

“Well, that was blunt.” Kyle drily added.

“What… What do you mean no?!?!”

“I’m planning to take over this clinic, letting my mom and grandmother focus on the farm.”

“So, that’s worth more than saving the world?” THAT struck Yoshika to her bone. “I want to point out that Strike Witches, especially our division, deal with the Neuroi on a worldwide scale. Our job is to stop this horrible invasion before more people die at their hands.” Sakamoto looked at her, now a bit scared. She started to sense a hopelessness from this. Getting up, she headed to the door, saying “I figured a Miyafuji, above all else, would understand this.” She then walked outside, leaving the family to her words.

“Look, I’m sorry.” Kyle said, getting close to Yoshika. “Sakamoto’s just a bit high strung, especially right now.” He sat next to the two girls. “Look, I honestly think you should give this some thought. We’re not going to leave just yet.” Yoshika hasn’t lifted her head up since Sakamoto had brought up her last name. “Hey, what’s on your mind? Talk with me.”

“When she said ‘a Miyafuji should understand,’ did she mean my father?”

“I wouldn’t know. I’ve heard Sakamoto refer to that name before, so I’m guessing it’s a Strike Witches thing.”

“Which means I’ll need to join her to get her to speak…”

“Hey now, don’t speak like that.” He scooted a bit closer to her. “Tell you what, you tell me what concerns you about join Strike Witches, and I’ll tell you what I know. Then you can be at least a little more educated with your choice. Sound nice?

Yoshika smile and nodded. “I… I don’t think I’m capable of being in the military.” Kyle smiled.

“That’s understandable. But you’ve also had no training. You’d be given some practice and training. We’re not going to send you into the skies right off the back.” He smiled back. “Hell, it was a good 3 years before I received my recommendation of flight.”

“You spent 3 years on ground missions?”

Smirking, he leaned in and whispered “I never said that.” she started laughing, causing him to get a little more serious. “Well, why do you want to run the clinic.”

“Well, I want to learn to use my magic, and I want to save lives. I want to help people.”

“I’m not here to romanticize the military - that’s propaganda. But let me tell you something-” Everyone in the room leaned forward to hear this. “Sakamoto came to get you, because she knew you’d be capable of doing just that.” He got up, and walked to the door. “I’m going to talk to Sakamoto, I’ll leave you to talk with your family here.” And with that, he walked out.

“Mom?”

“Yoshika, this is your choice. Your life.”

“I think you should.” Michiko surprised the family. “Miya-chan, you’re studying to become a medic, right? Well, this is a chance you may never get again. Plus, I think they need you.”

“...Grandma?”

“I… I think this is the best way to get to know your father.”

\----------

“Sakamoto?”

“Yes Kyle?”

“I.. talked to Yoshika. She just got nervous from the idea of service, understandable for her age.”

“Thanks, Kyle.” She sat down in the jeep, now right outside of the house. “I  _really_ screwed up back there.”

“Maybe so. But I need to ask you, who is Yoshika’s father? do you know him?

“Well, I-”

“Sakamoto!” Yoshika ran up. I-”

“Don’t worry. I can’t force you to join.”  _I don’t have the authority to do so._  “So, if running the clinic is really that important, you-”

“I’m coming with you!” Sakamoto’s defeated face became lively once more.

“You are? Great! Then let’s-

“On one condition.” Sakamoto, Kyle, along with the family behind her leaned forward to listen. “I want to see my father. And I’m positive you know where he is.”

After a moment of pondering, she nodded. “Yeah, I do. And as it just so happens, it’s at our base.” Both girls, oddly enough, smirked at each other. “So, we have a deal?”

“Yes, we do.” The two shook hands. “You now have the next witch for Strike Witches.”

 


	3. On Aboard

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yoshika and Sakamoto set of for Striker Island!

**Chapter 3: On Aboard**

Before the day was up, Yoshika was taken to the ship that had brought Sakamoto and Kyle to Fuso to begin with. The Aircraft carrier Akagi was to be the group’s mode of transport from Fuso to wherever it is that Sakamoto was taking Yoshika to see her father. “So, that ship is what brought you here?”

“Yeah, an amazing ship. It can go four times fast than any other ship you could find of it’s type.”

“At full speed.” Kyle added. “So, Yoshika, you ready?”

Gulping, as if to keep her confidence within herself, “Yes. Let’s get going.”

“Okay. Kyle, go and make sure we have enough supplies this time.”

Kyle saluted, “Yes ma'am!” And with that, he ran along the coastline to help with supplies.

_Damn it, Kyle, am I ma’am or commander? Make up your mind!_  “So, Yoshika, you’ve said your goodbyes, right?”

“Yeah, I did.”

“You’re not lying, right?”

“What? Who would lie about that?”

“Well, there’s some weird people in this world” Sakamoto sighed whilst shaking her head. “Well, I guess we better board the shi-”

“Miya-chan!!” The two witches both looked over to find Michiko running towards them. “I…” *huff* *huff* *huff* “I… I need to say something.”

“I thought you told me you said your goodbyes?”

“No, I need to ask YOU something, Captain Sakamoto.”

“Commander” Yoshika corrected.

“Yoshika, you can head onto the ship, I’ll meet you up there.” And so, Yoshika ran up to the giant ship. “So, what do you want?”

Michiko looked over to make sure Yoshika wasn’t around to see them, before embracing Sakamoto while shedding tears. “PLEASE! PLEASE LOOK AFTER YOSHIKA!” Her voice already cracked, showing that she doesn’t cry too often. “I DON’T WANT TO LOSE MY BEST FRIEND! PLEASE!”

“Don’t worry,” Sakamoto patted the girl on her head. She may not know her name, but she knows her struggle. “We Strike Witches, through good and bad, always look out for each other.”

“Thank… Thank you!” She started to wipe her tears away.

“By the way, what’s your name?”

“Michiko.” She smiled back. “Just call me Michchan.” Sakamoto smiled, and left to board the ship. Whilst Michiko stood there at the docks watching as the akagi left dock to wherever it was heading. She soon saw Yoshika on the side. “BYE, MIYA-CHAN!” waving once again.

Yoshika noticed. “BYE, MICHCHAN! I’LL BE BACK, I PROMISE!”

And with that, the two friends/cousins parted ways, hopefully to see each other once more in the coming future.

\----------

About fifteen minutes later, the two were rejoined with Kyle. “Okay, Sakamoto, we have enough supplies to make it back to Striker Island, with a week’s buffer.”

“Rations, right?”

“Mostly. We have some fruit too. That gets eaten first.”

“Striker Island?” Yoshika asked, not caring if she’s changing the subject.

“Yeah, it’s our current base of operations.” Sakamoto, not wanting to go to off topic, turned her attention back to Kyle. “Say, where is Yoshika going to sleep?”

Sakamoto’s face went long. “....’

“What?”

“Damn it…I hadn't thought of that!”

_What the hell have I gotten myself into?_  Yoshika wondered.

“Well, there’s a large closet we could clean out.

“NO! SHE’S NOT A DOG!”

“WELL, DO YOU HAVE ANY BETTER PLANS?” Kyle was NOT one to “sit there and take,” not when he didn’t have to.

“Well…” Sakamoto put some serious thought into it. It was getting late, with the sun setting - she didn’t have much time.  _Okay, think Sakamoto. There’s got to be a bed she can fit into… Well, there’s NAH. Actually, that may not be such a bad idea._

“Uh… Sakamoto?” Kyle and Yoshika asked at the same time.

“Okay, I know. She’ll share my bed.” Yoshika’s jaw hit the floor, with Kyle making sure he heard that right.

“WHAT! IS… IS THERE REALLY NO OTHER OPTION?”

“Not likely, Yoshika.” Kyle shook his head. “If there’s one thing I’ve learned on these trips, Sakamoto doesn’t beat around the bush, what she says basically goes around here.” He then thought back to earlier today. “Then again, neither do you, it seems.”

“Come on, Yoshika, it won’t be that bad.”

“Yeah!” Kyle joked. “It’ll only be mildly awful!”

“Kyle” he turned around and saw a murderous aura coming off of his superior “do you want to become a stain on my blade?” she says grabbing the hilt of her sword.

“No…” He said, sounding more sad than scared. “But look, she’s at your side, now.”

Sakamoto looked down to find that to be true.

_This is going to become a serious problem isn’t it?_  she said to herself.

“Well… You’re better than being in a closet.”

“Thanks.” Sakamoto dryly replied.

As things started to get weird, the tannoy burst into life with a message from the Captain stating that it was now

time for dinner. Thank god  they all thought.

All of the crew arrived in the mess hall, with only the vital crew members taking their food with them to continue working at their posts. Despite the fact that our three have already eaten, they were still excited to have some food. Besides, all of them - including Yoshika knew that you never waste a meal at sea.

 

It had only been a few minutes after the group had settled down to start eating when a voice called out to Sakamoto, “So this is where you’ve been hiding” Sakamoto turns around to see where the voice had came from.

“Ah… Captain Tanaka, I wasn’t really hiding I was dealing with an unexpected  problem that cropped up so I couldn’t find the time to see you”

“It’s alright” He says chuckling to himself “Mind if i sit here” he says gesturing to the open seat next to Sakamoto.

“Go right ahead” She replied as she turned back round to continue eating.

 

As this was going Kyle got distracted by a waving hand from around the galley door, he quickly excused himself from the room and as soon as he does he gets jumped…. “Well well, well look what the cat dragged in” Kyle recognised the voice as soon he heard it.

“Mikey old boy is that you” he snickered

“hey i’m not old and it's Mike not Mikey I keep telling you that!” He retorted by hitting Kyle over the head with a Dinner tray.

“Ouch that hurt?” Kyle replied rubbing his head, he was about to say something but he saw Mike peeking around the door staring at Yoshika & Sakamoto.

Kyle sighs and says “Still can’t stand the fact that witches hold higher ranks than you do, huh?”

Mike can only grit his teeth in agreement “Just you wait, I’ll surpass them someday, mark my words!”

“Yeah, yeah if you can stop being such a klutz first.” Kyle teased causing Mike to hit him with the tray again.

 

Meanwhile back with Yoshika.

Yoshika had been feeling weird for awhile now it felt as if she was being watched by someone she looked around a few times trying to figure out who was staring at her and this caught the attention of Sakamoto.

“Miyafuji you okay?” she says startling the poor girl causing her to jump

“I-I’m fine” she responded calming herself down in the process

“R-Right” she paused wondering how to continue when a bulb went off in her head “Ah that’s right i do believe that the two of you haven’t been introduced to each other yet have you”

Yoshika cocks her head in confusing and looks at the person sitting next to Sakamoto getting up and then standing in front of her after she had turned around.

“Well lets fix that problem right away” He says extending his hand “My name is Yanagi Tanaka, Captain of this fine vessel the Akagi, It’s a pleasure to meet you Miyafuji Yoshika” He finished with a smile.

Yoshika shooks hands with the captain  to which he sat back down in his seat and the three of them started to chat with one another, stopping at one point to refill their trays with more food which lead them all to become stuffed, not even any room for dessert mind you, and after that they all split up to go to their quarters with Sakamoto fuming at the fact that Kyle had disappeared somewhere, and boy was he gonna get it when she found him.

But, for Yoshika, what was really of concern what the fact of the sharing of Sakamoto’s bed. While the bed was spacious enough for both of them to sleep with some space, it doesn’t change the feeling of awkwardness that never seemed to lift. “So, Sakamoto.”

“Huh?”

“Why did you let me sleep here?”

The one-eyed witch merely smiled. “Well, I thought you’d feel safer in my presence.”

Yoshika blushed heavily. “Well… you’re not wrong.”

Sakamoto, sharing in the embarrassment, merely said “Okay, now let’s get to sleep.”

Much to Yoshika’s surprise, sleeping next to Sakamoto was… surprisingly natural.

\----------

Over the course of the next few days, Yoshika did some chores, and just tried to generally help around the ship: cleaning, cooking, cleaning, inventory check, cleaning, moving object across the ship, cleaning, putting up with Kyle, cooking some more, and cleaning.  _Man… they REALLY make you earn your nights rest around here…_ It actually got to the point where she looked forward to her nights with Sakamoto; they were at least peaceful, and Sakamoto didn’t make her work her ass off… at night.  _When the sun’s out, she works me harder than anyone else, besides that Mike guy, but I don’t have to listen to him. However, at night, she’s one of the sweetest people I’ve ever met._ _It’s amazing… she’s like two completely different people working shifts in one body._  On Day 6, she started to stare out into the sunset. Wow… I’ve never imagined it looking so beautiful.  _I’ve seen a sunset more than once… but the golden ocean meeting the sun with nothing in between makes it all the more-_

“Beautiful, isn’t it?” Yoshika turned around.

“Sakamoto!” The witch stood beside her. “I as just-”

“Enjoying yourself, I see.” She smiled. “I don’t blame you.” The two sat down, both on the front of the ship. “You’ve been a hell of a help around the ship.”

“I’m just doing my job.” A blushing Yoshika retorted. “Hey, Sakamoto? How well did you know my father?”

Sakamoto breathed in, then out. “Well, how about I show you?” The two got up, with a giddy Yoshika following Sakamoto. She took her down to a special room below the runway. In this room were what appeared to be a handful of roundish backpacks.

“What are those?”

“These are the beginning of your father’s legacy.” She said, causing Yoshika’s eyes to light up. “This is the Striker Unit MKI.”

“Can… I hold one?”

Sakamoto was already handing her one, “Just don’t put it on, Yoshika.” Yoshika did what she could to get a feel for it. “You see, the idea behind it is that it allows us to perform things that one could never hope for on a witches broom - namely more aerial control.”

“My dad made this?”

“Yeah. His research is currently leading to a MKII model as well. It’s expected to be done in a few weeks.”

“Wow…” Yoshika had been dumbfounded. She never knew her father had been doing all of this, not that he would of been alouded to tell anyone. “Hey, what did you mean by my father’s ‘legacy’”

Sakamoto took a deep breathe, “You father’s work was a massive break-through. His dream was to use technology and magic together as tools to accomplish the impossible. And this Striker Unit is the result of that dream.”

Yoshika placed the Unit back on the rack with the other two that were there. “Man, my dad’s pretty amazing then, huh?”

Sakamoto smiled, with a tear running down her face. “You’re right, amazing is exactly how I’d describe him.” She then lead Yoshika out. “Now let’s go to bed. We should be arriving at Striker Island tomorrow.”


	4. Invasion From Above

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Neuroi make their debut in this Reboot!

**Chapter 4: Invasion From Above**

Sakamoto jumped out of bed to the sound of an alarm, knocking Yoshika out of bed. “Stay here, I’ll go see what’s going on.” And with that, Sakamoto ran upstairs, leaving a worried Yoshika down below.

“Captain Tanaka, what’s going on?”

“I think you better see for yourself.” He handed her some binoculars.

“All I see are some dark clouds.”

“Exactly.” He said. “That’s ALL you see. No waves. No rain. No signs of wind.” Then Sakamoto snapped.

“Damn it!” She threw the binoculars. “Not now!”

“Go suit up, I’ll ready the ship.” Sakamoto nodded, and headed back down. He grabbed the mic for the ship. “To all crew mates, all signs point to a Neuroi attack! Jim Sterlson, Prepare the turrets. All available pilots, get into an available plane. Sakamoto will guide you.”

On her way down, she heard Yoshika crying in the corner of their room. “Yoshika, what’s wrong?”

***Snob***  “I’m… I’m scared. I’m not sure what the Neuroi are, but… I…” She merely hid her head within her beetle-positioned body.

“Look, the Neuroi are why you and I are here.” Yoshika looked up. “But you don’t need to fight them just yet.” She patted Yoshika on the head. “Now, just remain calm. I’ll be back.”

Sakamoto put on the backpack. She pressed a button, causing it to squeeze itself to fit her figure, and wings spanned out of it’s sides, making it a jet pack. Picking up a black box, she focused her magic into it - causing it to take the form of a giant cannon. Finally, she took an ear-piece out of her pockets, and placed it into her… well, ear. Pressing down into it, it turned into a head-set. “Captain Tanaka, this is Mio Sakamoto, ready for flight.”

“I hear you, Sakamoto. I’ll unlock the main elevator when the ships ready.” He picked the mic back up, and said “All pilots have 3 minutes to get ready. Repeat. 3 minutes to deployment.”

“Hey, Kyle!” The Liberion pilot turned his head to see a fellow pilot waving at him. “You can take my plane. Commander Sakamoto will need you up there more than me. Beside, I hear you’ve fought these thing before.”

“Wait!” Kyle looked over that the plane. “Aren’t you the captain?”

“Not this time, they need someone more experienced than me.” He handed him his helmet and goggles. “I’m going to arm up and help the marksmen this time.”

“Hang on, you’re going to have to pass Sakamoto’s room, right?”

“Yeah, why?”

“Can you do me a favor?”

\--------

Yoshika, while no longer crying, was still nervous about, well, everything. “Hey, miss?” Yoshika looked up, “Are you Yoshika?”

“Yea, why?”

“Here.” He handed her some goggles. “This is a gift from Kyle. It was his first ever set of goggles for flight.” Yoshika took the goggles, and put them on.

_Wow… they fit surprisingly well._

“Sorry, but I need to get up to the deck.” Yoshika shook her head, and he headed off.

\----------

Kyle entered his plane. After closing the cockpit, he buckled up, and began to flick two switches on the right side. After the two lights above them lit up, he grabbed the mic. “Listen, this is Kyle Yeaser. By your captain’s request, I will be serving as your captain for today fight. First of all, roll call. I need all of you to flip your respondents switch.” He saw, soon enough, that all nine other lights in a circle lit up. “Okay. Now, some protocol. Never fly into Neuroi clouds. They CAN and WILL possess the ship with us in them, and we’re not having a civil flight wars.” He gave a moment for questions. “Okay. Now, we are to focus on the Neuroi aircraft. We have other divisions to handle the rest, as well as anti-aircraft fire support from the rest of the fleet, any questions?.” no questions came. “Okay, all Pilots report in!”

“34 standing by.”

“35 standing by.”

“36 standing by.”

“37 standing by.”

“38 standing by.”

“39 standing by.”

“40 standing by.”

“Phoenix standing by.”

“Blue Eagle standing by”

“Commander Kyle, standing by. All Pilots accounted for.” He flicked the two switches down, followed by flicking one on the right. “Captain Tanaka, JFW 546 is ready to fly, waiting for Commander Sakamoto.”

“Read you loud and Clear, 546. Getting the rest of the ship ready.” Tanaka flicked a switch himself.

Sakamoto, in her little prep room, saw one red light turn on.

“Marksmen, are you ready?”

“This is Dan Alf, Yes - Marksmen are prepared for combat.”

Sakamoto saw a second light turn on, with both lights now being yellow.

“Captain Tanaka, this is Mike Dilbert - Ground Soldiers are stationed on deck and ready for combat.”

Sakamoto saw the last light turn on, all three were now green. “Okay Sakamoto, the Elevator is unlocked. You may enter when ready.”

“Affirmative.” Sakamoto stepped in, and was lifted up. Stepping out, the Elevator went back down. “This is Commander Sakamoto - Ready for deployment.” Then, everything stop. The Alarms stopped, the ocean was calm, no noise. Yoshika noticed this in the room. Sakamoto lifted her eye-patch, revealing her magic purple eye. “Okay, I can see the clouds better now…” Silence… “It’s opening both towards and away from us - they know we’re here.”

The clouds started to head towards the ocean and they suddenly broke causing Sakamoto’s eye to twitch in response. “Neuroi spotted: distance 4000 closing in fast.”

“Sakamoto, what’s out there?”

“I see one Type 12, A dropship, and several type 7 air crafts. It’s going to be a rough one.” Sakamoto, gripping her cannon, got in a running position. “JFW 546, prepare to launch!” She began running forward, with the wings blowing exhaust, allowing her to take off, with the JFW 546 following suit.

The tannoy then burst into life once more the captain started to speak “All units prepare to fire on my word and watch out for the fliers in the sky”

Sakamoto, keeping her eye out, was able to practically swim through the gaps of the Neuroi air crafts. “JFW, I’m leaving the type sevens to you. I’ll handle the large one.”

“We hear you.” The JFW then committed to fighting the planes, but there were simply too many. Not that the JFW was getting shot down, but too many were approaching the ship… including the drop ship.

“Damn It!” The captain yelled. “Units, we have types 1-3 landing on the ship!”

Before anyone could blink, the turret exploded, leaving the ship open.

The Marksmen and the Ground Soldiers had an effective strategy: Marksmen shoot when they arrive to weaken the main body, with the ground Soldiers finishing it off. It would have been perfect, if not for the regenerative factor of the Neuroi.

The Captain, watching the whole ordeal break out, and about to open a bottle of wine, soon had a visitor. “This is Neuroi Officer 2365387-5786456.” He turned around. “I’ve found the Ship leader - proceeding to terminate.” The humanoid robot drew blades from its wrists, and lunged. The Captain, not being a fool, drew his sword, and engaged.

\----------

Great… I can’t seem to find it’s weak point.” Sakamoto continued to scan the giant carrier for it’s core. “Where is it…”

\----------

The Marksmen, while getting lucky here and there, couldn’t seem to straight up kill any of them. The Ground Soldiers, armed with shotguns and machine guns, had better luck, if only just.

\----------

Yoshika during all this, wasn’t too keen on staying down in the room. but she had no choice she was much safer here than up on the deck where all of the fighting was taking place, but that changed at the sound of a ship crashing into the top of the ship. “No… I NEED to do something.” Yoshika got up and ran to get a striker unit. “I may die if I go up there, but I can’t live with myself hiding down here.”

Yoshika, remembering how to get from their room the the supply room. “Okay. These things have to work some way.” She put the pack on and, pressing a red button, had the backpack form to her figure. “ to her side something caught her eye it was a large cannon and she thought to herself I  _need to defend myself somehow,_ _but I-_  she tried to pick it up it simply wouldn’t move off of the table. She tugged so hard that when she let go she ended up falling backwards onto her backside and after she got up and started to rub it she noticed two things: Striker Units are durable as hell (by her standard), and there’s an elevator to her left. “That wasn’t there before.” Stepping into it, she was able to figure out that it had to lead upwards.

And it did. Oh boy it did. Yoshika stepped out into hell. The ship she saw as a clean paradise was now burning, smoking, and a ground for killing.

“AH, GETTING OFF ME!” She turned her head to see a soldier being clawed by an animal-like Neuroi. A second later, a fellow soldier shot it off her. She ran over to help him. A Neuroi tried to lunge at her, but a Marksman shot it through the core with it bursting into fragments before Yoshika could react or even notice it.

“Frank, you okay!?!?” No response. “Frank, don’t you dare die here!”

“Hang on!” Yoshika managed to get there fast enough. “Let me help. I can fix him. At least a bit.”

The man, named Chuck, (reluctantly) stepped aside to let her work.  _Okay, I need to keep blood flowing through the body._  Her hands began to glow over his chest.  _Just repair the damage. Anatomy was your best subject, Yoshika. You can do this. You can do this._

“Hey kid…” The both looked down. “Am I dead?”

She smiled, saying “Sorry, not yet.” She turned to Chuck. “I think you could carry him to  a safer place.”

“Bless you.” Chuck said, trying to pick Frank up. Yoshika, activated the wings, knowing what to do next.

\----------

The Type 12 Ship soon began to fire back at Sakamoto, right as she found the core. “Now, as to how to destroy it?” Sakamoto activated her magic shield, giving her some time to think.

\----------

The two conflicting Captains were fighting, Neither allowing the other to land a blow. The captain then had an idea. He stopped attacking, let the Neuroi attack. “DIE, FLESH BAG!” The captain the activated what seemed to be a magic shield of his own, which caused the Neuroi to fly backwards. Not one to let the moment slip, he cut it’s head open with his sword, and grabbed the bottle. Opening it up, he shoved it into the Neuroi’s head before it could regenerate. this caused it to short circuit, which caused the core to explode.

Having a moment to breath, he looked down at the dial he was holding for his shield. “Ichiro…” He looked out to the rest of the ship to a happier sight of the chaos slowing down as the Ground Unit’s got it under control.

“This is Phoenix, all type 7 Neuroi ships have been shot down, the dropship included.”

“CAPTAIN!” Mike yelled, coming in. “We’re finishing the last of them as we speak. We’re throwing the corpses into the ocean just to be safe.”

“Mh. Good. You missed the Neuroi Captain.” The Captain pointed to the sparking corpse on the ground.

“You two fought.”

The Captain, with a ‘you dumbass’ expression, said “No, we discussed the invasion over a bottle of wine. What the hell did you think we were doing” With Mike having a laugh, “Status report.”

“Marksmen report no losses. We lost Jim in the turret explosion.”

“Planes?”

“Ask them yourself.

Grabbing the radio, “All Pilot, report in right now!”

“34 standing by.”

“35 standing by.”

“36 standing by.”

“37 standing by.”

“38 standing by.”

“39 standing by.”

“40 standing by.”

“Phoenix standing by.”

“Blue Eagle standing by”

“... Commander Kyle?” Mike and Tanaka started to worry. “Commander Kyle?”

“This is Phoenix… Kyle Yeaser was shot down and crashed into the Ship. His plane exploded on impact.”

“NO!” Mike yelled into the radio. “THAT WAS A NEUROI SHIP!”

“They were trying to take it over. He fought to the bitter end.”

\----------

The Neuroi lasers failed to break through Sakamoto’s shield. “Hahaha! You’ll need to do a lot better than that to beat me!” Then the lasers stopped, with a giant gun emerging out to attack. “Well, that’s better.” Sakamoto, careful to no longer be cocky, danced around the large cannon blasts. “Okay, first thing’s first, create a hole.” She fired in between shots at one target, after about a minute a hole formed. “Now, to land a blast.” However, now all lasers focused on her. “Damn it!”  _Great, now I can’t move. I need my shield up, but they’re charging up for a blast already. I’m… probably done for…_

“Sakamoto!”

“Yoshika?” Just as the cannon went off, Yoshika got in the way. Closing her eye, awaiting the inevitable, she felt the presence of red light, but just for a minute. She opened her eyes to find Yoshika open an extra-large shield. How did she do that? I’ve only seen Minna pull something like that off. Yoshika, having the reality of her situation reach her, passed out into Sakamoto’s arms.

“Sakamoto, I’m…”

“Shh…” Sakamoto hushed her. “You did fine.”

***Flare Noise***

Sakamoto looked to find a hole in the Type 12 Ship, with it’s armor having melted away., followed by a carbine shot shattering the core inside. “Officer Sakamoto!” Sakamoto turned her head to see two familiar faces. Shone… Perrine… nice to see you two… Sakamoto turned her head to Yoshika in her arms.

“Sakamoto, I’m sorry.”

“What, why?”

“I stole a Striker Unit…”

“Hahaha… As far as you’re concerned, you’ve earned it today.”

“Hey, Shone?” The flyer turned to see Perrine “Who is that in Sakamoto’s arms?”

“Another girl, if I had to guess.” Shone turned to see a really pissed off Perrine.

“Yoshika…” Sakamoto smiled at the now sleeping Yoshika. “Let’s get back to the ship…”


	5. Striking Arrival

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yoshika gets to meet up with her father, though Sakamoto isn't looking forward to it.

**Chapter 5: Striking Arrival**

Yoshika woke up on the deck of the Akagi in Sakamoto’s eyes. “Morning, sunshine.”

“Huh?” Yoshika, coming to her senses, looked off at the distance. “What… What happen to the ship we were fighting?”

“That was a Neuroi.” Sakamoto looked into Yoshika’s eyes. “And a damn strong one, too.”

“Okay, that makes sense. But what happened to it?”

“You don’t remember?” Not breaking eye contact, “you took it down.”

Yoshika, getting a lazy, and somewhat sleazy look in her eyes, said “Okay, now what  _really_ happened to it?”

Sakamoto, looking at the grinning girl, accepted defeat and said “Okay, fine. Two other members of the 501st came over and finished the job after you saved me from it’s giant laser blast.”

Sakamoto pointed outward in the direction the ship was facing, showing an island coming into view, fast. “That’s-?”

“Yep, Striker Island.” Yoshika, finding the strength to get up, ran to the edge of the ship to get the best view she can. “Excited to get there?”

“I am now!” She looked out in anticipation. “It’s funny though, I wouldn’t of guessed that I’d look so forward to this one week ago.” She then stopped to think. “Say, what happened to those other members?”

“Simple, they went back to check up with the base.” Sakamoto, picking the rather small girl up, placed her on her shoulders. “and don’t worry, Yoshika. I’ll hold up my end before we do anything.”

Bending down to let her cuddle Sakamoto’s head, “thank you.”

“Hahaha!” Sakamoto, looking out said “You make really cute hat, you know?”

Yoshika blushed as she began at fall asleep in place as the approached Striker Island.

\----------

Yoshika woke up from her slumber when Sakamoto began to move to unboard the ship. “Yoshika, we’re here!”

“How long was I out?”

“Only about 30 minutes.” patting her cute little hat, Sakamoto continued to walk. “So, you feeling better?”

“Yeah” Sakamoto bent over to let Yoshika get off. “I’m ready to meet my father!”

“Okay, he’s waiting for you on the other end of the base.” She grabbed Yoshika by the arm. “Now, rather than running through the base, let’s take a back route.” The two walked around the surprisingly small-walled base, unaware of a watcher.

_So, Yoshika’s the girl who’s been around Sakamoto so much the past few days._

After what was at most a fifteen minute walk, they arrived to the end of the island, with a beautiful view of the ocean… and a large rock.

“Yoshika… I’m sorry… I just couldn’t bring myself to-” She stopped realizing Yoshika casually walking to the rock, which was actually a tombstone.

Turning around, she smiled. “It’s okay. I knew my father died 3 years ago.” She turned to her father’s grave. “I need closure.” She bent over, with tears falling onto the soil housing her father.  _I know you promised to come home, father. But I don’t hold it against you. You… you had bigger promises to keep…_. Yoshika’s few tears became full out sobbing.  _And now… I promise… I promise to do the same… I’ll give everything I’ve got to protect this world…._  Yoshika breathed in heavily. “I PROMISE!!!” She then collapsed onto her father’s resting place. “I promise… I promise… I promise…” Sakamoto picked up the resting girl, and gave her some support to lean up for a bit.

After Yoshika calmed down a bit, Sakamoto asked “Yoshika, if you knew your dad was dead, why did you act like you didn’t”

“Commander Sakamoto…” Sakamoto looked down at Yoshika. “You lied about my father to keep us both in a positive mood as long as possible, right?” Sakamoto nodded. “I figured I should do the same.”

Sakamoto, wiping a few tears from her eyes, got up. “That’s certainly something your father would do.” They both looked at the tombstone. It had an engraving stating  ** _Use your power save those who have less for themselves_**. “You know, that was his motto. He lived and died believing that.”

“They are good words to live by.” She smiled. “I’m not sure about my own power, but I know there are people I can help.” Yoshika finally got up. “My father promised the world he’d live and die to fight these Neuroi, didn’t he?” Not waiting for Sakamoto’s response, “Well, I promise to do the same, however I can…”

Sakamoto patted her on the back.  _Ichiro, you have a wonderful daughter to be proud of…_  “Come on, Yoshika, let’s get you officially enrolled in Strike Witches.”

“Yes, Captain Sakamoto!” Saluted Yoshika.

“Please,” Sakamoto smiled. “Just call me Sakamoto.”


	6. Welcome to Striker Island

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yoshika finally makes it to the 501st Division! 
> 
> Now What?

**Chapter 6: Welcome to Strike Witches!**

Sakamoto and Yoshika walked around the modestly sized Striker Island, heading for the largest of the five buildings there. “This, Yoshika, is the military base of Strike Island. Consider it the ‘professional’ building of the island.”

_I wonder what that means…_

“For now, all you need to worry about is that this is where you journey as a witch begins.

_So what the hell was everything before this? A prologue?!?!_

The two walked in, finding a long hallway with every door seeming to have a staircase behind it. “Is there an ending to this maze of madness? Or at least is there a room on this floor?”

“Yes.” Sakamoto smugly responded, pointing forward.

“So… we’re just walk in a straight line?”

“Yep. We've been through a lot today, so I say we just enjoy a quiet walk…” Yoshika, getting a moment to think, realized how appealing the silence really was.

After adopting that mentality, the never ending hallway just seemed to stop in an instant. Opening the door, and letting the blinding light subside, they saw the room, clearly designed to hold more than who was present. Including her and Sakamoto, there were currently 13 people in the room, all girls. She didn’t recognize either witch from earlier today. The one with the ponytail was kind of upset realizing this. The blonde one was too angry to care - not the Yoshika noticed either or. Who actually got her attention was the red-haired lady in the front of the room behind a podium, waiting for the two to be seated.

“So, Sakamoto, it looks like mission success?”

“You bet, Minna!” Sakamoto fist-pumped into the air. She looked down at Yoshika. “Go on.”

Yoshika walked forward, getting jumped by one of the witches, causing everyone in the room to jump backwards in shock. “OH, CHRIS! I KNEW YOU WERE A WITCH!” Her brown eyes soon changed to stars “OH, BUT ONLY IN MY DREAMS WOULD HAVE WE BEEN PLACED IN THE SAME DIVISION. OHISWEARTHISISTHEGREATESTDAYOFMYLIFE! WHAT’S YOUR MAGIC, SIS!?!?”

“Uh, Gertrud?” Minna said, trying not to laugh.

“Yes, Commanding Officer Minna?”

“That’s..”  ***Giggle***  “That’s not your sister…”

Gertrud’s Fiberglass delusion shattered, with her distraught face being to only aspect sticking to reality. “Un….understood, Commander Minna.” Without changing her expression, Gertrud sat down next to a witch with short blonde hair.

“Don’t feel bad, we all make asses out of ourselves every now and then.”

_“Erica… you’re… not… helping…”_  Gertrud soon had the blonde haired girl cuddling her head.

“It’s okay, Gertrud.” Gertrud’s expression still hasn’t changed.

Yoshika, doing everything in her power to ignore what just happened,  continued walking forward to the girl she now knows to identify as Minna. “Yoshika Miyafuji, right?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Please, feel free to just call me Minna.” From her podium, she opened a wooden box and pulled out a standard pistol. “I’m sorry this is all I can give you for the moment.”

“Huh?” Yoshika looked down at the handgun. “What do you mean?”

“Well, we Strike Witches like to give each witch her own personal loadout. But, for the moment, this is all I have for you.”

“Thank you, but I won’t need it.”

“Hmm?” Minna turned her head slightly. “Are you sure?”

“Yeah, I don’t see myself needing it.”

Minna, shrugging, held her hand out. “Well, I welcome you to the 501st Division none the less!” Yoshika closed her eyes, smiling, and returned the handshake… find her hand to be much colder than she thought it would be. Opening her eyes, she found out why, she was now holding the pistol. “Sorry, but rather or not you think you need it doesn’t change the fact the I know you will.”

“Well…” Yoshika sighed. “I guess if you really think so.”

“Yeah, you’re definitely like Sakamoto, so I’d say you belong in her Squad!”

Now Yoshika turned her head a tad in confusion. “Huh? Squad?”

“Oh, Sakamoto didn’t tell you?”

_Damn, I forgot to tell her…_  Charlotte looked at her, with her usual smile, whereas Gertrud was still recovering from earlier.

“Well, here in the 501st, we have always tried to set ourselves up into groups.” Minna looked out to the audience. “You see, we have three squads in the 501st. The Squad I’m going to place you in is Sakamoto’s squad.” Minna looked down at her watch. “Look, I’m sorry, but I need to go take care of some things with Sakamoto. You all are welcome to introduce yourselves to Yoshika.” Minna and Sakamoto left the room, leaving Yoshika with two things: a room full of witches she’s never really meant, and a hell of a lot of anxiety. The first two to approach her were completely opposite in appearance. One was rather short, with a noticeable tan, deep black hair, and grey-ish eyes. The other was the tallest woman in the 501st, with short orange hair, and blue eyes. The latter was the first to talk to her.

“So, you’re the new witch?”

“Yes.” Yoshika said.  _She’s been smiling at me the entire time._  Before either girl could talk, Yoshika was… groped from behind.

“Yeah! First Crack!” The young one behind her said. Yoshika, understandably, was a bit too freaked out to react.

“Francesca, don’t grab what isn’t yours. We’ve been over this.”

The young-looking girl let go of Yoshika, who scooted backwards until she hit something. Stopping to look at that something, she noticed it was a witch with a ponytail behind her. “Well, Yoshika, it seems you’ve met our resident boob checker huh?”

_Boob checker…!?_  Yoshika said to herself whilst looking at Francesca and then back to the other witch.

“Nah, I’m just messing around with you.” Shone looked down. “Sorry for the scare…”

“No problem, miss…” Shone’s smile proceeded to fade. Before Yoshika could say anything else, Shone’s robes suddenly burst into flames, causing the grounded Yoshika to scoot backwards from Shone, while being mindful of the fact that Francesca wasn’t too far behind her. After the fire subsided, Yoshika learned that Shone only had pants on underneath the robes, and that Shone had a ripped body. With Shone’s smile returning, Yoshika grabbed Shone’s hand, reaching out to help.

“Anyway, hello! My name is Shone Hosho, sole wizard of the 501st Division!”

“Well met, Shone.” Yoshika scratched her head. “Sorry about mistaking you for a guy…”

“No problem, it’s a common mistake.” He grabbed Yoshika, turning her around, and pointed to Francesca. “You should've seen her reaction to trying to grope my chest. She wasn’t expecting abs.” Shone and Yoshika had a hard laugh.

“Hey Shone!” The two turned to find the tall, orange haired girl yelling for her, ignoring Francesca. “Seems you’ve burned another set of robes.” Shone looked down behind him to find a pile of ash that was his robes.

“DAMN IT! NOT AGAIN!” Yoshika gave him some room to cool off. “Well, okay.” Shone bent over a bit to reach Yoshika’s level. “Anyway, the orange-haired girl is Charlotte E Yeager. She’s from Liberion.”

“E YEASER!?!?!?”  _Oh, wow, maybe she knows Kyle! Oh, man, she probably recognizes that these are his old goggles. That’s probably why she was smiling! Oh man, this is-_

“Sorry, Yeager, not Yeaser.”

“Oh.”  _Damn it._

“Anyway, the girl… erm… enjoying her is Francesca Lucchini.”

Charlotte spoke up. “You know, Francesca, one day you’ll find someone who you are attracted to beyond appearance, and when that happens, I just can’t let you do this!”

“NEVER!” Charlotte merely laughed.

“Shone, Charlotte doesn’t seem all too bothered by it.” Yoshika looked over at Shone.

“Well, Yoshika, Charlotte isn’t bothered by things she deems petty.”

“And getting groped by a twelve year old isn’t?”

“Well, you would of guessed it, but Francesca is actually the same age as you are.”

Yoshika, reluctantly, looked back to the fondling practice that was still going on for some reason. “You’re right… No my first guess.”

“Now,” Shone turned Yoshika around a bit. “The blonde-haired girl over there is called Perrine H Clostermann. She’s a Marksman among the witches here, as is Francesca.”

“Wouldn’t of guessed that, either.” Perrine made no attempts of eye contact with Yoshika. Before she could ask why, a girl with short, silver hair walked up to them she had two machineguns and two military construction hammers with her. “So, this is the new witch?”

“Yes… and you are?”

“Laura Toth. I’ve heard you’re the one who saved Sakamoto from a type 12 Neuroi, correct?”

“Yes, yes I am.”

“Well,” Laura said. “While I’m confused as to how she got into that situation, I guess it’s a sign of promise that you could do that.” She walked pasted Yoshika and Shone. “Good luck actually living up to it.”

“Still upset about losing your position?”

“Up yours, Jack.”

“Shone.”

“Don’t care.” She turned around real quick. “Charlotte, I’m going back to our condo.”

“Okay, Laura. See you there.” And with that, Laura left.

“Anyway, the girl that jumped you earlier is Gertrud Barkhorn. I guess you look like that Chris girl she knows.” The two look over to find Gertrud still recovering. “Yeah, she’s really embarrassed that happened.”

“Who’s the girl over her?”

“That’s Erica Hartmann.” He looked around. “Now, there’s two other members, but they seem to not be here anymore. Strange, I saw them a little bit ago. Don’t worry, I’m sure you’ll met them enough.” Shone rubbed his chin. “Now, what am I forgetting…. OH YEAH!” He shot up, with Yoshika almost falling over again. “Lynette, care to come over?” Yoshika looked up to find a girl with light brown hair nervously looking at her. “Look, Lynette, I need to go check some things out for Yoshika, care to give her a once over of the base?”

“Sure…” Lynette calmly said. “Well… Yoshika, is it? I guess we should get started.” The two left through the door. Shone, getting a bit bored, decided the door wasn’t the way he was going to leave. He went to a side of the of room, and opened a window.

“Shone” Perrine said “What the hell are you doing?”

Backing up to get some space, he ran towards the window. “DYNAMIC EXIT!” He made it through the window, doing a flip. “Ow!”

Charlotte laughed, with Francesca having finally stopped. “Looks like he forgot about the bushed out there.”

“Again” Perrine added.

\----------

Lynette and Yoshika spent about a good half hour on the second floor, showing the gym, multiple training areas, and much more that Yoshika figured she’d never actually use. “Say, Lynette, is there anything beside the meeting room and stairs on the first floor.”

“Well, there is one thing.” The two quickly ran down stairs, with Lynette showing here the dining room. “We don’t come here every day to eat, only on sundays and special occasions.” She signaled Yoshika to follow her. “And this is the kitchen.”

Yoshika’s eyes lit up, being filled with stars.  _“WOW!”_  She started jump, damn near teleporting around the room.

_“LOOK AT THIS!”_

_“THIS IS THE NEWEST MODEL STOVE!”_

_“SOO MANY CABINETS!”_

_“SO MANY FRESH INGREDIENTS!”_

_“MEAT!”_

Yoshika went on and on, gaga-ing over the kitchen in place. “So, I take it you like to cook?”

Yoshika, backpedaling through the air, nodded.  _“I live for it…”_

“Say, I wouldn't of guessed you knew flying magic.”

Yoshika’s fantasy burst. “I don’t.”

***Thud***

“You okay?”

“Yeah…”  _I’m never doing THAT again._

“Anyway, that’s about everything here. This building is the military base of the Island, after all.”

The two walked out of the base. “That building was meant for more than a single Division of Strike Witches.”

“Could of figured that out.” Joked Yoshika.

“That building over there is storage for things we don’t need anymore. Old Jets, broken units, things that the squad no longer needs go there.” Lynette had a chill go down her spine, which did not go unnoticed from Yoshika. “Anyway, let’s go to the condos.”

After a short walk, they reached the condos. “You see, the red one is ours, with the green one being Charlotte’s and the blue on being Gertrud's.”

“So, they’re squad leaders?”

“Yeah.” Lynette seemed sad, but only for a moment. “Anyway, let’s go in.” And so they did.

“You see, Yoshika, we each tend to get our own to do as we want. If you go into any room that’s not mine, you’ll see what I mean.”

“About that.” The two turned around to find Shone right behind them. “Follow me.” And so they did.

_Hang on, this is my room…_ Lynette realized.

“So, Yoshika, I think you’ll be here. It’s best for everyone.”

_Awesome! Yoshika thought, thinking back to her time aboard Akagi. Not that I minded being with Sakamoto, but having my own room will be-_

“Lynette, what are you doing?” Shone asked.

“Packing up, moving to the guest room, it’s all that’s left.

“But there’s a queen size mattress here, surely that’s enough for both of you.”

“Wait, that means-” Both girls looked at each other, blushing.

“Well, that’s just fine.” Smiled Yoshika.  _Lynette seems nice. I could get used to being around her._

_Wait, Yoshika is okay with sharing a room… sharing a BED with me?_

“Well, that’s good.” Shone looked outside. “It’s getting late, so I’m heading back to my room. “I’ve set Yoshika’s stuff up on her side of the bed. Sakamoto will come in tomorrow, she’ll be staying with Minna for the night.” Shone left, leaving the two to their business.

\----------

“So, Lynette, What’s with this whole Squad thing.”

“Okay, let me explain.” A thought bubble shared between the two formed. “You see, in most Divisions, there are four Ranks: Commanding Officer, Combat Officer, Special Soldiers, and Soldiers. Minna would be Commanding Officer, with Sakamoto being Combat Officer, and the rest are Soldiers. However, that puts just a bit too much on their plate, so we have our own ranking system.” Mental Yoshika began to take notes. “Minna’s still the commanding Officer, with us having three Squad Officers instead: Sakamoto, Charlotte, and Gertrud. And now, with you joining our ranks, that’s 3 Soldiers per squad. Each Squad seems to have our specialty. Charlotte’s Squad are excellent Ground Soldiers, and Gertrud’s Squad is unmatched in the air…”

“And us?” asked an excited Yoshika.

Said excitement died when Lynette sighed. “I don’t know… I haven’t don’t much in the way of anything here… I’m still awful at using Striker Units, and I’m not strong enough to use my weapon.” Yoshika looked at her. “How long have you been here?”

“Only about a month, before you I was the new rookie. I still am.” She looked at Yoshika. “Unlike you, I haven’t once went into the skies.” She then collapsed into the bed, bursting the bubble.

“Look, I don’t know much here, but here’s what I know.” She started her roommate in the eyes. “Everyone here has what it takes.”

Lynette, while still in a bit of disbelief, nodded and turned her head to go to bed. “Well, I guess you could be right.”

***Yawn***  “I am right. And I promise to make you believe so.” With a smile, the two ladies fell asleep.

A slim finger flipped the lights off, and shut the barely open door.

“well Shone, I guess you were right.”

“I told you, Sakamoto, Lynette will benefit from her. Yoshika is what she needs.”

Smiling, Sakamoto looked at the door. “You’re probably right.”

“Aren’t I always?”

“No.”

\----------

Lynette woke up inside a dark room, with the smell of metal and salt water around her. She picked up a flashlight, and noticed all of the brocken jets lying around. She wanted to get up, but her legs wouldn’t move, they were trapped under some gun she couldn’t move. She felt a Striker Unit on her back, when when trying to turn it, it merely blew dust.

**_“Don’t worry, Lynette, you’re safe here.”_** She turned to the noise to find a purple outline of Sakamoto. The voice… it was too haunting to be hers, yet it was.  _ **“The Neuroi won’t attack you here.”**_

_“But, I’m here to fight them!”_

_**“But you can’t Lynette. We’ve proven that by now. You can’t work as a Strike Witch, so we’ll hold you here for the time.”**_  The outline seemed to turn around, and walk to the door.  ** _“We just got a new witch, so maybe you’ll have some company soon.”_**  She opened then shut the door.

_“Sakamoto!”_  No answer.  _“Shone!”_  Still nothing.  _“Charlotte, Perrine, Erica, SOMEBODY, HELP!”_

 

**“AHHH!”**  Breathing as heavy as she could, Lynette woke up to be back in her room. “Damn, why do I keep having that dream.”

“What dream?” Lynette turned to find a drowsy Yoshika staring at her.

“Oh, nothing serious. Let’s just go back to bed.”

“Bull. If it wasn’t serious, then you wouldn’t of woke up.”

Lynette blushed. “It’s… stupid…”

“I’m not believing you until you tell me.”

“Fine…” Lynette had a tear go down her face. “I have nightmares about the scrapyard.”

“What? Why? You know what’s in there, right.”

“Yeah, I do. I know what they put in there.”

“Then why be afraid of it?” Lynette then began to cry a bit.  _Wait a second_

_(“things that the squad no longer needs go there.”)_

_(“I don’t know… I haven’t don’t much in the way of anything here… I’m still awful at using Striker Units, and I’m not strong enough to use my weapon.”)_

_(“I still haven’t taken to the skies.”)_

The crying Lynette’s tears were matched by a crying Yoshika’s embrace. “I promise… you’ll  ** _never_** end up in the scrapyard. And you WILL take to the skies. I’ll make sure, we’ll train together, got it?”

“Sure…” Lynette smiled, falling down and bringing Yoshika with her. “I’m tired.”

“Me too, Lynette.” They both closed their eyes. “Me too.”


	7. Knowledge and Practice

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yoshika and Lynette start training with Sakamoto

**Chapter 7: Knowledge and Practice**

Sakamoto walked into the room to find an… interesting scene.

“Good morning, Yoshika.” Sakamoto said, trying not to laugh.

“Sakamoto, what’s going-” Shone came in, running, before laughing at the scene in front of her.

Shone came running to the door. “Sakamoto, what’s going-” Looking into front of him answered the question.

Yoshika woke up to find her head between… not pillows. They were soft mind you but they were definitely not pillows.

“Ah!” Yoshika pushed her hands directly into the not pillows, causing Lynette to wake up a take notice to Yoshika’s hands.

“EP!” And with that the blushing and drooling Lynette returned to the wonderful land of sleep.

***Thud***

That was the sound of Shone falling to the floor, laughing. Turning around, Yoshika noticed Sakamoto, was laughing just as hard. ‘Oh, man. One day here, and she’s already gotten into mischief!” Shone said, struggling to breathe.

Sakamoto, calming down a touch, said “Yeah, you belong here.”

_I swear if Sakamoto is putting me in the same boat as Francesca, I’m gonna slug her…_

Sakamoto, getting full control and helping Shone up, made a proposition. “So, Yoshika, you in the mood for cooking? It’s 11 am, so breakfast or lunch will do.” Yoshika popped out of bed with a smile and humming a little tune. Shone went over to pick up Lynette.

\----------

Lynette woke up to the smell of bacon and eggs. “Morning.” Lynette looked to her side to find Shone, smiling, and to find herself sitting in a chair..

The fact she woke up in a chair didn’t seem to bother her. “I had a strange dream…” She looked at Yoshika, blushing and being glad she was too busy cooking to notice.

“Hey, Sakamoto.” Sakamoto got up to see what Yoshika had to say.

“Yes, Yoshika?”

“Do me a favor.” Yoshika brought Sakamoto close to her. At a whisper “Don’t tell Lynette about earlier, She doesn’t seem to believe it happened. In fact, don’t even acknowledge it.”

While not entirely sure why, Sakamoto acknowledged and respected her request. Sitting down, Yoshika finished up the last of the eggs, and served each a plate with Bacon and Eggs. “Sorry, we’re kind of low on food, it would seem. These were all I could find.”

“Oh, really?” Sakamoto turned to Shone, who hasn’t yet touched his food.“ Shone, can you check up on the other two groups and make sure they’re still good on supplies?”

“Sure.”

***Knock* *Knock* *Knock***

“As soon as I check up on that.” Shone left the kitchen, going to the door.

***Knock* *Knock* *Knock***

“I’M COMING!” Shone yelled. He opened the door to find Minna, holding a large bag and a small one.

“Sorry, Shone, but I need to talk to rest of the squad.”

“Sure. Sakamoto is always happy to see you.” Turning around, he didn’t see Minna’s reaction to that. He ran to the kitchen.

“Hey, Sakamoto, guess who wants a cha-?” Shone’s face nearly fell apart at the scene in front of him: Sakamoto is already done with her plate, and starting on his. “THAT’S MINE!”

“Well… you weren’t eating it.” Sakamoto was trying to pass on a cute face. Shone’s face, however, was not impressed. He quickly snatched, and quickly scarfed down the bacon and what was left of his eggs. “YOU KNOW WE’RE RUNNING LOW ON FOOD!”

“Well…” Sakamoto scratched her head, realizing there’s no way out of this.

“I figured you two would be past that.” A smiling Minna came into the kitchen.

“Some things never change.” Shone and Sakamoto said at the same time.

“Well, I was going to make sure you four were good on food, but I think the answer to THAT is clear.”

The four looked at each other, then back and nodded. “Still, Minna, is that all you came over for?”

“Sorta.” She handed Shone the large bag. “Now, get to the pier. Perrine and Erica are waiting for you on the boat.”

“Boat?” Yoshika whispered to Lynette.

“It’s a speed boat designed by your father for witches to use.” Yoshika went starry eyed, for a split second, at the mentioning of her father.

“Okay…” Shone took the bag, and left, muttering “It’s always the same three…”

Minna turned to Sakamoto, holding the small bag. “So, you and Yoshika ready?” Sakamoto nodded.

“Wait, ready for what?” Yoshika asked.

“Well, your training starts today.” Sakamoto signaled her to follow. Yoshika was quick to do so, but just a quick to turn around at her roommate. “What’s wrong, Yoshika?”

Yoshika was remembering last night…

“Hey, why not take Lynette along?” Everyone in the room looked over at Yoshika to make sure they heard that. “What? She needs to train, better than leaving her on her own.” Minna whispered something to Sakamoto, with Yoshika only making out that Shone’s name came up.”

“Okay, I’ll train you both.” She looked past Yoshika. “Lynette, get you weapons.”

“Yes ma’am!”

“What about mine?” Yoshika asked.

“Well,” Minna answered. “I’m getting that sorted out. You see, we need to head to the warehouse for some things.” Sakamoto and Minna turned around. “We’ll wait outside.”

Yoshika turned around to find Lynette arming her weapon: A Harpoon Crossbow. “Wow! THAT’S your weapon?”

“Ranged, anyway. It’s lighter than it looks.” Lynette said with a smile. She then picked up her Metal Kanabo. “THIS is what I said I can’t wield.”

“But you can lift it?” Lynette took a moment to explain that having the strength to lift something doesn’t equal being able to swing it. “Oh.” She shook her head. “Anyway, let’s get going.”

The two walked outside, nodding at Sakamoto and Minna. “Okay, let’s get going.” And with that, the four began their walk to their destination.

As they got closer, however, Lynette saw the warehouse and reacted as one would expect. Upon reaching the front of the building Lynette suddenly froze on the spot, and grabbed Yoshika, pulling her behind the corner. The little “ep” she let out did not go unnoticed by Sakamoto or Minna. However, in Sakamoto’s attempt to stop this, Minna stopped her.

“Minna, what are you ?”

“Shh! I want to hear this.”

And so, listening in while trying not to be seen, they heard the two speak.

“Lynette, are you  _really_ that scared of the warehouse, or scrapyard as you call it?”

“YOU SAID YOU WOULDN’T LAUGH!”

“I’m not laughing.” Yoshika tried to calm her down. “But look, we’re not here to leave you. Minna just needs to pick something up.” Lynette still cowered a little bit. Sighing, she grabbed Lynette’s hand. “Look, if you ever feel like you’ll be left behind, just hold onto me - I promise to never leave you behind!”

Lynette nodded, finally getting the ability to walk back. Minna and Sakamoto quickly and quietly went back to the door. “I had no idea Lynette didn’t like this building, quite the opposite of Erica.”

“I think it’s sweet.” Minna smiled, unlocking the door. The two noticed Yoshika and Lynette walking up to the other duo.

After the door was unlocked, the four walked into the “scrapyard” that was the warehouse. Lynette was practically glued to Yoshika, not letting go. “Hey, Minna, what are we here for?”

“Well, that’s quite simple.” Minna says turning to look at Yoshika “We’re here to find you a weapon you - can’t exactly train without one”  Yoshika was actually quite happy, and started looking around for one, Lynette slowly loosening her grip. However, Yoshika missed Minna saying “Where is it?” Yoshika tripped over some lunk of metal - taking Lynette with her - causing another comical moment between the two. Sakamoto, realizing their position, started to turn a bit red. “Jealous, Sakamoto?”

“NO!” She quickly turned around. Whilst Minna giggled as she looked over the two, until something caught their attention - voices coming from outside.

“NO, YOU DON’T NEED ANYTHING ELSE! OUR ROOM HAS ENOUGH OF YOUR CRAP IN THERE AS IT IS!”

“Come on, Gertrud, no one else uses anything in the old shed of a build besides me and you.” The two walked in to find the four searching through it. “Oh, I stand corrected.”

“Hey, Erica, back already?” Sakamoto asked, prompting a confused reaction from Gertrud and Erica.

“What are you talking about?” The two asked simultaneously. Minna took some time to explain the situation.

Meanwhile, Yoshika and Lynette finally picked themselves up, and searched for a weapon. Yoshika saw something rather large and rusted - it looked like a gun. “This looks like a tool for fighting the Neuroi!”

“Uh, Yoshika, can you lift that?”

“Sure.” Yoshika tried to grab the gun, which looked to weigh more than she does. “I.. JUST.. NEED.. TO-” Her grip gave out, letting go of the weapon, flying backwards into a pile of metal.

“YOSHIKA!” Lynette ran to make sure she was okay - she was. However, Yoshika pulled something out of the pile that broke her flight - what appeared to be a melted Striker Unit.

“Lynette, what happened to it?” Yoshika started to have some nightmarish images in her head of what kind of Neuroi it would take to do that.

“That’s Shone’s first Striker Unit.”

_Oh thank goodness._

“He’s the reason we’ve added metal to its shell.” Yoshika had a laugh at the believability of Shone melting one of these, when Erica became informed.

“WHAT! SHONE’S WAITING FOR ME AT THE DOCKS?!?!”

“Perrine, too.” Minna innocently added. Like a speeding bullet, Erica took off. Gertrud took her attention away from her teammate (for once) and placed it on Minna.

“You never told us…”

“I didn’t?” Minna scratched her head, in a manner Sakamoto usually does. “Oops…” Gertrud merely shook her head and left. “Now, where were we? Oh, yes, Now I remember where it is!” Minna stopped searching through the ground and looked up on one of the walls. “I actually hung it up where it belongs.” Minna grabbed a sword off the wall, and gave it to Sakamoto, and then pulled out a pistol of some sort. “You can thank Gertrud for putting this together for you. I picked it up this morning.”

Sakamoto came to a realization. “That’s when you noticed they were running out of food, huh?” Minna smiled and nodded. Minna turned around, signaling Yoshika and Lynette to follow. After the four of them left the warehouse, Minna looked over to the three.

“Okay, Sakamoto, you know what to do.” And with that, Minna turned around and went back to the base.

“Okay, you two, let’s go to the runway!” The three went to sit down on the runway, which wasn’t too far of a walk from their position.

_After spending nearly a week on the Akagi, nothing will ever beat that._

“Sakamoto?” Yoshika asked. “Is it safe to be here? I mean, what if an Airplane needs to take off or-”

“Don’t worry, this may of ONCE been a military base, but it’s now just our little island - more or less.” Sakamoto smiled, and handed Yoshika the gun that Minna gave her, along with some ammo. “First off, you need a gun.” Yoshika was given what looks like a pistol. It was a bit bigger, with a noticeably larger magazine for the gun.

“Another one?” Yoshika looked to her side, revealing she still has the pistol Minna gave her.

“This one was made personally by Gertrud, you remember her, right?”

**_“CHRIS!”_**  Yoshika’s flashback began and ended in a second.  _Yeah, like I could forget…_

“Well, her magic allows her to build things, like your pistol. Gertrud says it’s basically a machine pistol.” Yoshika started to enter her wonderland once more, trying to imagine what all Gertrud could do.

“She’s doing that weird thing again…” Lynette said.

“Now, here’s your melee weapon.” Yoshika, popping back to reality, accepted the blade being offered to her, and just… stared at it.

“So, why give me this over anything else?”

“Cause it’s a ninja sword!” Sakamoto started to sweat a bit at Yoshika AND Lynette’s silence. “ _And_ neither of you understand the significance of that, do you?” Both girls shook their heads.

_Damn it…_

“Huh, okay, do either of you even know what a ninja is?” The two girls nodded. “Okay, good, now what makes this important is that ninjas were Fuso’s first ever group of magic users!”

“WHAT!” Yoshika yelled out, causing Lynette to plug her eyes for split second. “Really?!?!”

“Yep!” The fist-pumping Sakamoto said. “Back in the days of war-bound Empires of Fuso, they learned magic to defend themselves from Empires and their Samurai.”

“HOW?” Yoshika started to, more or less, teleport around Sakamoto, asking questions.

This caused Sakamoto to grab Yoshika by the head, and calmly (comedically) placed the now pouting Yoshika next to Lynette. “Now, that’s a story for another day.”

“How do you do that?” Lynette asked.

“Huh?”

“How to you so effortlessly lift things like that? No offense, but Shone’s muscles are more defined than your, yet you can lift more than him… how?”

“Well, Lynette, that’s actually a great place to start, since you both need to learn about magic. It’s a form of Enhancement Magic!”

“Huh? Enhancement Magic?” The two girls asked.

“Yep! This kind of magic allows someone to add magic into something and increase its property. There are two types of it: we’ll call them types A and B. Both involve putting your magic into the object... ” Sakamoto took out her sword, and lifted her eye-patch. “With Type A, your magic gives your weapon properties of your magic. For example, my magic is piercing magic-” Sakamoto pointed to her left eye “-especially in my eye. However, I can add it to my sword to make it pierce defenses, be it magic or armor base.” Sakamoto’s Samurai Sword began to glow purple. “See? I can also do so with my gun, as can you two.” Sakamoto smiled, closing her eye patch. She then proceeded to lift her cannon-grade machine gun with one hand. “This is known as Type B. Here, you use the magic to enhance the object's natural abilities instead of adding your own. In this case, I’m enhancing my muscles!”

Yoshika, as should be expected, was amazed by this, with Lynette at least being impressed.

“Sadly, you two won’t be reaching that just yet. First, you need to get yourselves more combat ready.” Yoshika now had a look of disappointment, whereas Lynette had a more binal look.

_Well, what WAS Yoshika expecting?_

Sakamoto reached into her bag, and gave them both Striker Units. “Now, we have two major things you two need to improve: Magic control and physical prowess.”

Great. Both girls thought.

Sakamoto got an aura around her once more, one showing authority. “Now, I’m not going to go easy on you two, go it?”

“Yes, ma’am!”

And thus began the next week of hard training. While each day had the pattern changed up, each one involved:

Running up and down the runway for as long as they could, and then to push themselves a bit farther.

Flying through the air in Strike Units, which drained their magic like nothing else. Which was almost always followed by some other third thing, be it repeating one of the two previous exercises, or simply practicing with their weapons on their own. It was tiring none the less, two days in.

So, needless to say, it was exhausting on the sixth day.

_It’s the Akagi all over again!_  Yoshika still smiled, or tried to with her being in the middle of running around.  _But it’s not too bad, I guess._ Yoshika looked over to Lynette.  _This certainly has it’s benefits._

Yoshika, not focusing on balance, fell over and on the pavement, cutting her knee a bit.

“Yoshika!” Lynette stopped running, and turned around to help her. “Are you okay?”

“Don’t worry Lynette, I’m fine.” Yoshika placed her hand over the small wound. “I have medical magic, remember?” The blood stopped, and the wound began to heal. “See, no need to worry!”

Lynette simply smiled and helped her up. “Good to know. Well, it’s the end of the day, and Sakamoto doesn’t seem to be around, so-”

“Giving up already?” They turned around to see Gertrud facing them. “I hoped for better from you two.” The two girls looked at each other, with Gertrud walking past them to stare at the sunset. “You see, you two need to understand the threats of being here. The Neuroi could attack at any moment, and you never know if you end up being one of the ones having to fight them.” She looked back to the girls. “You two will both need to-”

“Gertrud, that’s enough!” All three noticed Sakamoto walk up behind them. “I was letting them work on their own. Frankly, I’m surprised they didn’t call quits earlier. I’ll handle them from here, thank you.”

And with that, Gertrud turned around and walked back to her condo.

“Okay, girls, we have one thing to do for today. We have one last thing to do today, some magic training.”

The tired witches sighed. “Okay, give us the striker units.”

“Oh, no, not today. Today, I’m teaching you to reach your familiar.”

“Our what?” Lynette asked.

“Well, every person has a spirit animal, right? Well, learning how to access yours is the first true step to learning how to control magic.”

Yoshika looked over to Lynette, both nodding their heads. “Than what was the point of having us do this for six days?”

“Well, Yoshika, that was a test of you will.”

The two nearly fell on the ground at that revelation.

“Pick yourselves up..” Sakamoto deadpanned. “Now, to access your spirit animal, it’s merely concentration, and flow of magic. Ignore everything else.”

And the two girls followed their instructor/officers orders. To the trio’s surprise, Lynette was able to activate her animal.

“Cat ears?” She said. “Wait, how do I know that?”

“Tail, too.” Yoshika said, point to Lynette’s back.

“Oh…” Lynette sat there, looking at Sakamoto. “So, now what?” Sakamoto just shrugged. Lynette proceeded to freak out and run around. “WHAT AM I GOING TO DO?!?! I DON’T WANT TO BE A CAT GIRL! OH CRAP! OH CRAP! OH CRAP! OH CRAP!”

“I honestly think she’s a cute cat girl.” Yoshika giggled.

“Yoshika, is this normal?”

“No, usually I’m the one doing it.” Yoshika smiled back, getting up. Lynette stopped running like a chicken without it’s head to find Yoshika squeezing her ears. “Wow! So realistic!”

“NOT HELPING!” Lynette yelled, a bit angry now. Also confused to find Yoshika giggling about being yelled at.

“Let me see.” Sakamoto then proceeded to feel the ears, and tail too.

_This is just wrong…._

_ME NEXT!_

“Impressive, Lynette, I didn’t think you’d get it one your very first try.”  _Excellent magic control if I’ve seen it._  “Lynette, just calm down, and stop using magic, you’ll go back to normal. Yoshika, Your turn.”

Yoshika was able to quickly do so, but with less success. Sakamoto feeling them proved so. “They feel too fake. Let’s try again.”

Yoshika, waiting some time, had them disappear. She would continue to repeat that process until Sakamoto eventually stopped her. “Look, you need a break. I say we go back to the condo, and you can try again tomorrow.” A frowning Yoshika nodded, and the three left.

However, was a lie. After the other two went to sleep, she got out of bed, went outside the condo, and began to practice.  _I’m not quitting… I need to do this… I WILL do this_

Though hours of work went by with no better results. Yoshika, using what little of her brain was awake, went back to her room, and being careful not to wake Lynette up, and put on her strike unit.  _I seem to use my magic a bit better with one of these. I just need practice…_

\----------

Lynette woke up to find herself to be alone, which was odd - Yoshika normally leaves the door cracked open as a special signal for Lynette. Getting out of bed, she left the room and went into the kitchen to find Shone making something to eat., with Sakamoto simply waiting. “Morning, Lynette.”

“Morning, Shone. Breakfast fend for yourself?”

“Yeah, unless you feel like waking up Yoshika.”

“Sure I will, where is she?” Sakamoto and Shone looked at her, with Shone dropping his bowl, luckily it didn’t break.

“So, you don’t know where she is?” Sakamoto, Shone, and Lynette all left the room to find her. Shone looked in the bathroom, and Lynette looked in the guest room, both to no avail.

“Found her!” Sakamoto yelled. The two followed the voice to find Sakamoto outside, looking at a sleeping Yoshika, with fox ears and a matching tail.

 


	8. Hot Waters, Cool Memories

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Given the day off, Lynette tells Yoshika a bit about her and Shone

**Chapter 8: Hot Waters, Cool Memories**

Yoshika woke up to Shone, Sakamoto, and Lynette looking at her. She looked down to see her bed. “So… it was just a dream.” She sighed. THAT theory was debunked by Lynette returning the favor from yesterday.

“I doubt that, these feel like real to me.” Lynette smiled. She then stopped for a minute. “You want to test it out, Sakamoto?”

“Nah, I’ll just take your word for it - you don’t strike me as a liar.” Lynette smiled at Sakamoto’s trust.

“THEN I WILL!” Shouted someone from behind Yoshika, grabbing her ears. Yoshika then got a solid idea of what it would be like to use rocket magic, as she flew through the air, bumped her head on the ceiling, and landed in her catapulters arms. “Jumpy, huh?” Looking up, Yoshika saw vaguely familiar orange hair.

Shone smiled at Yoshika. “Don’t worry, Yoshika, Charlotte wouldn’t do anything bad to you.”

“Nothing you don’t ask for.” Charlotte joked. She looked down to see the blushing Yoshika still had her animal ears. Charlotte, looking up, declared “SHE’S ADORABLE!” and proceeded to snuggle her. “Can I keep her?”

Lynette and Sakamoto both shared expressions and thoughts.  _She’s mine…_

“Sorry, Shirley, but I don’t think these two are going to give Yoshika up.”

“Aw…” Charlotte pouted. “Fine, Shone, you can keep her.”

“Um… Charlotte?” Yoshika asked.

_“Yes?”_

“Why are you here?”

Charlotte resumed her large grin. “I just love checking in on others from time to time.”

“And YOU'RE okay with that?” Yoshika turned her attention to Sakamoto, prompted Charlotte to hug Yoshika from behind.

“You should see Gertrud’s reaction whenever I visit them…” That along with Charlotte’s smiled warranted laughter.

“So, I guess Ill make some breakfast?”

“Actually, it’s noon.” Lynette added.

_Oh crap_

“Well, I’ll make you four some lunch, my Squad already ate.” Charlotte got up and walked to the kitchen, with the others following suit.

Charlotte made them potato salad for lunch. Shone and Charlotte had an odd smile shared between the two of them when she finished, with the five digging in. Sakamoto was the first done, of course. Then Shone and Charlotte, then Lynette. Yoshika was taking her time. “Do you not like it?”

“No, Charlotte, It’s great! May be the best I’ve ever had…”  _Out of the three I’ve eaten_  “I… Honestly don’t want to train today…”

Sakamoto let out a hearty laugh. “You know what, you’re right.”

_‘bout what?_  The whole room thought to themselves.

“You and Lynette can have the day off. I think you’ve earned it.”

Charlotte stood up. “I recommend they spend some time in the golden room!”

“Golden room? Yoshika and Lynette asked.

“Yeah, that’s a special area for baths. It also serves as a relaxation group.” Charlotte’s energy was rather infectious. “Now, the gold room is for girls. The silver room is for men.”

“Shone?”

“Yeah”

“Didn’t you almost become a stain on Sakamoto’s blade because you walked in on her taking a bath?”

“That was an accident and you know it!” Shone yelled in response. “She didn’t even have her blade…” Shone murmured. Sakamoto, surprisingly, maintained a mellow smile through the ordeal. “Anyway, I think I’ll go myself.”

 

After that little discussion and to which Sakamoto asked Shone to go with her to somewhere, High pitched screams could be heard echoing throughout the entire base. Which reminded everyone just how brutal Sakamoto could be if she was pissed off.

After the screams subsided Yoshika and Lynette decided to do one more job before heading to the bath house which was cleaning up after lunch, then a short while later the two of them headed off to the bath house meeting up with a bruised and battered Shone along the way. Yoshika used her medical magic to heal as much of his face as possible. “Thanks.” He smiled, and then the three walked off.

 

Yoshika, Lynette, and Shone arrived at the bath house. “How many houses are actually here? Sakamoto only showed me five.”

“This makes how many?”

“Six…”

“Well, I think every just rounds this one with the base since it’s so close, so she probably forgot.”

“Probably.” Yoshika and Lynette just walked to the Gold side, with Shone going into the Silver side.

“See you two later.”

“Okay.” The two said, getting into the room. As they walked into the room, Perrine and Francesca walked out, seeming to actually be having a civilized conversation.  _I wouldn’t of guessed her to be the kind for casual conversation._  Even Perrine was rather mellow, not even giving so much of a glance.

Francesca, realizing the two girls were going to the baths, attempted to 180 and join them - causing Perrine to grab her and stop her. “ _Oookay_ , you don’t need another bath, nor another chance to be a pervert.”

“Aw, you’re no fun.” And the two left the house.

\----------

Yoshika and Lynette were quite surprised to find how large the bath itself was. Both kind of figured it would have many individual baths, not one giant one. And it lived up to its name: the room was a golden colour, which made the water have a golden glow to it, and the steam was already getting them relaxed. They immediately tensed right back up at a realization.

They both forgot their bathing suits.

Oddly enough, Lynette was the one to speak up. “Yoshika, you can get…  ***Gulp***  get undressed first. Iwon’tlookIpromise!” Lynettes face is a deep shade of red.

“o..okay” Yoshika replied

 

As Yoshika had finished undressing and left to head to the bath, Lynette decided to do the same however as she finished a voice could be heard from outside the changing room.

“Lynnette are you finished yet?” Yoshika said

At this point Lynette blushed and increased her pace and then started to run towards Yoshika.

“Ah there you are Lyn….Lynette!?” Yoshika shouted startled as she quickly got out of the way.

“AIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE”  ***splash***  is all that could be heard as Lynette crash landed next to Yoshika.

“Are you girls okay in there?” Shone shouted from the men’s bath

“We’re fine” Lynette said putting herself in a seated position whilst rubbing a lump on her head from where she hit the side of the bath.

“Okay, if you say so” Shone replied. Shone then sat backwards in the Silver room. “Sure is great to have a bath all to yourself…”

Yoshika meanwhile sweatdropped at little and then swam over to Lynette and put her magic to work sorting out the offending lump.

“Thanks, Yoshika.” She smiled, hugging Yoshika. Being nice, Yoshika returned the hug. However, she made the mistake of looking down and noticing Lynette’s chest. She immediately shot up, tightening the hug and looking up with a straight face.  _Don’t react. Don’t react. Don’t react. Don’t react. Don’t react. Don’t react._

“You’re really okay with being here with me?” Lynette said, without moving.

“Chest”  _Damn it_

“Huh?”

“Yes, thank you.”

With that, the two were able to calm down, sit back, and relax. After about 10 minutes, conversation just naturally happened.

“So, Lynette, can I ask you something?”

“Sure.”

“You’ve been here for a month, but last week was your first week of training.” Lynette looked down. “What exactly were you doing in that time.”

“I…” Lynette blushed, causing Yoshika to place her hand on Lynette’s shoulder for reassurance. “Well, I needed to get some other things in order before I could train…” Yoshika sat back and let Lynette tell her story.

“It all started when I was recruited…

\-----------

“So, let us welcome Lynette Bishop into the 501st Division!” The room was filled with clapping. “Now, you’ll be placed into Sakamoto’s Squad, since they only have two members. Is that okay?” The mono-expressive Lynette merely nodded and followed the girl with the eye patch.

“So, Lynette, is it?” The light-haired girl nodded. “Well, I’m Mio Sakamoto. We’re going to head to the condo, which’ll serve as your home for the time being.” Once again, Lynette nodded.

As the two walked there, Lynette noticed some of the other witches there, but she didn’t stop to speak with any of them. You’re the new one,  _Lynette, remember that. Don’t do anything to screw-up already._  Not looking where she’s walking, she runs into Sakamoto, causing them both to fall over.  _Damn it._

***sign***  “Just try to watch where you're going, okay?” Lynette, a little sad, nodded. The two were able to make it to the condo without any further incident at least. Sakamoto brought her to a surprisingly large room.

“Kind of big for one, isn’t it?”

“Yeah, but it's the last room we have.” Sakamoto said.

“OH, I’m not trying to complain!” Lynette was able breathe a bit easier with Sakamoto’s smile as her response. However, Sakamoto then proved to Lynette that she was the Squad Officer for a reason:  _This woman won’t let up! There isn’t an hour of the day without a chore attached to it! Hell, I’m surprised she doesn’t wake me up at 6 am to simply clean the kitchen sink._  Lynette sweated to herself a bit.  _Not that that would be so bad… we never have anything beyond basic food to eat._  Lynette wasn’t one to voice these opinions, however.  _Just bite your tongue, Lynette. You know what happens when you speak out…_  Flashbacks to Lynette’s childhood struck her for a moment, causing her to shudder.

\---------

“So, Sakamoto worked you down as well?” Lynette’s nodding head in response caused Yoshika to pause for a moment.  _So, that explains a few things…_  “By the way, did you meet Shone at all during that time?”

“ _Well_ -” Lynette said, blushing “-a few days later, I had to…”

\----------

“... carry these glasses into the condo, and put them into the kitchen. you can do that, right?” Sakamoto asked, pointing to a very large stack of glassware.

“Yeah, I think so.” Lynette, grabbing all of them at once.

“Uh, are you sure you can handle all of that?”

“Yeaah!” Lynette said, trying not to fall over.  _Why do we need this many cups to drink out of? there’s only me, Sakamoto, and however this Shone person is suppose to be._  Lynette was able to navigate through the hallway. However, getting them into the kitchen proved to be difficult without

***Crash***

One of them falling over. That got Sakamoto to run in and check it out. “Great.” She deadpanned, looking disappointed at Lynette. “You said you could handle it.” Lynette hide her face behind the glasses to hide a few select tears.

“Come on, Sakamoto, lay off the poor girl.” The two turned to see Shone enter the kitchen. “You’re seriously going to get on her case for knock one glass over?”

“Shone,”

_So, this guy’s Shone? Shone’s a guy?_

“I don’t need a lesson in-”

“I’d say otherwise.” Shone had a very large, unusually large grin on his face. “You see, Sakamoto, Lynette dropped one of what would seem to be one-two-three-four… twenty glasses. Now…” Shone placed his hand on the top half of the glasses.

Sakamoto’s eye widened.  _You better not…_

“Had Lynette done THIS-” Shone pushed his hand forward, causing nine more glasses for fall over and shatter. “then I could see you getting angry.” Shone and Lynette looked over to see Sakamoto having a deadly aura around her.

_“Shone. Why. Did. You. Do. THAT!?!?”_

Shone merely smiled, and turned to a closet to get something. “I suppose you want me to clean this mess.”

Sakamoto, trying not to lose, turns around. “Fine. I’m going to go talk to Minna in the mean time.” And with that, a sulking Sakamoto left.

Lynette turned to Shone, who has pulled out a broom and dustpan. “Is… She going to report you?”

“Don’t worry, Minna likely won’t mind.” Shone bent down beside Lynette and started to carefully pick up shards of glass. “Beside, Sakamoto just likes being around Minna. Good friends, ya know?” Lynette, legitimately smiling, offered to help, but Shone declined, namely because he was already done. “Look, don’t worry too much, Sakamoto is just a bit uptight, and she’s used to only having to deal with me.” Lynette breathed a bit easier hearing that. “She’s nice when she learns to calm down.” Shone smiled a bit. “Anyway, if you need any help around here, I’ll see what I can do.”

\----------

“So Shone helped you out, too?”

“Yeah, showed me around the base and everything - except for here - he forgot about that.” Lynette actually let out a light chuckle.

After that they spent a little while longer in the bath before getting out, as it would have been unwise to stay in there for too long and become overheated, they got changed and decided to head back to their room to stay in until dinner time.

 

“Say Lynette?”

“hmm?”

“Has Shone helped you out more than the time with the glasses?”

It took a little time for Lynette to respond but she finally responded… “Well there was this one other time he helped me with something.”

“oh… what was it?”

“well… promise me you won't laugh?”

“Okay, I promise.”

_here it comes_  Lynette thought to herself “it was swimming” but surprising her Yoshika did not laugh because she herself had trouble with swimming when she first started out.

Then Lynette cleared her throat “Can I tell my story now?” Yoshika nodded. “Alright it started roughly 2 weeks ago with Emergency Landing water training……”

 

\-------------------------------------------------------

 

“Alright Charlotte that was a good run go and rest now.” Sakamoto shouted with Charlotte fist pumping in response, meanwhile Lynette was sitting on the beach nearby having failed her run miserably with Sakamoto comparing her to a drowning cat.

She was about to get up and go and get changed when Shone sat beside her. “Bombed another one huh Lynette?” All she could do was stay silent in response. “Are you really not that good in the water Lynette?” he asked her.

After a few moments she blurted out “I’m a hammer!”

”So you can’t swim huh?” All she could do this time was nod.

“Alright” Shone jumped up “Sakamoto I’m taking Lynette for a bit”

“Okay, be back in time for dinner” she responded.

“Roger” and with that he grabbed her wrist and dragged her somewhere, after a while they stopped and it took her a few moments to catch her breath before looking around and seeing that Shone had taken her to a secluded part of the beach…....

\-------------------------------------------------------

“oh did anything happen?” Yoshika asked starry eyed

_Ughhhhhh_ …. Lynette thought to herself as she continued her story

 

\---------------------------------------------------------

 

“Pretty nice place, huh?” she looked up at Shone “Now you can practice swimming without embarrassing yourself” Her face turned a bright red.

_Great I’m already embarrassed._

Shone hopped into the water “And don’t worry. I’ll be right there beside you in case anything goes wrong. now get in here and show me what you can do.”

 

It took me a few minutes but she finally went into the water and tried to make her way over to Shone but she ended up looking like a drowning nimal once more. But after a few tries and with some help from Shone I managed to stabilize myself in the water. “Okay it looks like we’ll have to start with the basics…… first off let’s teach you how to float.”

He instructed in the simplest way possible and It didn’t take her too long to float properly……

\---------------------------------------------------------

_Yeah….. I bet you’d float just fine……._  Yoshika thought, her perverse mind starting to wander around once more.

“Yoshika are okay?” Lynette asked

“I….I’m fine”  _Crap. I need to get this under control._   “you can continue.”

“O--okay”

\-----------------------------------------------------------

“Good, good Lynette you’re learning faster than I thought” She was really happy when he said that “Okay time to start proper swimming…… grab onto my wrists lean forward and start kicking towards me” Once again she listened to what he said, but “Easier said than done” was in full effect here. After a few failures, she finally found her rhythm and started to get the hang of swimming properly.

 

But all of a sudden Shone let go of her with panicking following suit, but Lynette was able to calm herself down and started kicking again, remembering what Shone had taught her. Even though it took her a few minutes she was finally able to swim on her own. By this time Shone had gone on to the shore and was watching her swim. She couldn’t see him smiling.

\----------

“Wow! So you were able to learn how to swim in one day?” Yoshika smiled.

“Yeah… I guess I was…”  _I never thought about that… but I did!_

“Well, I’m glad you were able to learn all of that, Lynette!” Yoshika smiled.

“Thanks for listening.” Lynette murmured out. “It… means a lot to me.”

Yoshika picked up on that, but before she could say/do anything, there was a knock on the door. “You two hungry?” The two witches nodded. “Okay, cause Shone and I are.” She waved her hand, signalling for the two to follow.

“So, I would like to ask how prepared you girls feel.”

“Huh?” Yoshika and Lynette asked in unison.

“Do you two feel a bit more comfortable with your magic?” The two nodded.

_Is that just their default answer?_  “Well, if you two feel better about it, I’ll lay off.”

“Huh?”

_Good Lord_ …”You two are free to only train when you feel that you need to. Your call from now on.”

The two girls grabbed each other with starry eyes, happy at the news… only to knock their meals over. “Also, you’re both cleaning that up.” Shone hardly reacted to any of this.

And so, the two girls went to clean up their mess, made themselves a little more to eat, and then agreed to go to bed.

They woke up the next morning early out of habit. So, with nothing to do, they decided to walk around the base.

After a few hours a bell’s toll could be heard resounding around the base. Lynette froze in place. “Lynette, do you know what that means?”

Before she could answer a huge explosion rocked the entire island causing everyone to grab onto something to keep themselves stable, the two of them looked up into the sky and saw a black mass zoom overhead.  

Lynette muttered something in fear. As faint as it was, and as loud as the bell was, Yoshika still made out what she said.

“Neuroi…”


	9. On the Offensive

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Neuroi Attack Striker Island!

**Chapter 9: On the Offensive**

The 501st met up inside the main office room of the base (Same room where Lynette and Yoshika were accepted officially) with Minna there. “Okay, we have Sakamoto out there analyzing what we’re up against. But for now, I need status reports from all three squads!” Minna yelled, being more in-line with a military leader, now.

“Squad Sakamoto is all here!” Shone said, with Lynette and Yoshika waving to show that they were in-fact there.

“My squad is almost ready. Perrine is just getting her gear ready.” Charlotte said, being slightly more serious than usual.  _Slightly_.

“Sanya and Eila are both asleep.”

“And I’m here with Gertrud!” Erica said from behind.

 

It was only a few minutes later that everyone met up with Sakamoto being the last to arrive due to her reconnaissance on the enemy units.

 

“What are we dealing with Sakamoto?” Minna asked with a serious expression.

“It’s gonna be a tricky one, there are 2 type 8 high speed units, 1 type 12 dropship unit and here’s the kicker that new unit that showed up 2 months ago has made it’s way here”.

Everyone became shocked especially Yoshika and Lynette mainly because they had only learned about the neuroi units that are common to be found in battle, but to hear about a new type so soon kind of made the two of them shudder in fear.

 

“You mean the type 10…. the missile mothership!” Minna said in shock

The room went deathly silent because they had not dealt with a neuroi of this type before, they only knew what they knew from what they had seen in the reports and now they had to deal with it, to say that they were worried about it was an understatement.

 

“Alright that’s enough” Sakamoto said which got everyone’s attention directed at her “Just because a new type of Neuroi has shown up doesn’t mean that it will prevent us from doing what we do best, we’re the strike witches for god sake we shoot down neuroi all the time what’s one new model gonna stop us from doing our duty!”

 

Hearing Sakamoto’s words helped boost the morale of the witches that were present and got them really fired up, Yoshika and Lynette were no longer afraid either. “That’s the spirit, now load up we’ll need to be up there ASAP!”

But just as the witches were about to leave a bunch of explosions occurred outside of the base and when they looked…..

“Shit… the bastards blew up the runway now we can't launch” Shone said punching a hole in the wall this predicament caused everyone to get riled up even more.

“We have no choice then” everyone turned to Sakamoto once again. “We’ll have to use the catapult system if we’re gonna have a chance of defeating the neuroi” the others nodded but Minna spoke up

“But we can’t the catapults were only put in recently - they haven’t even been tested yet!”

”What choice do we have Minna, either we use the catapults, or this place burns in hell!”

With those words Minna saw a strong sense of dedication in Sakamoto’s eye - one to match her voice. “Okay, if you feel that way.” Minna, showing some confidence in the situation, got up and looked at the squads. “Charlotte, you and your squad will deal with any ground units. Take no chances, okay?”

“Yes Ma’am!” The present members of her squad yelled.

“Gertrud, you and Erica are to take down that Drop Ship. Do what ever need to.” The two witches nodded, being able to take off without the runway. “Sakamoto, you’re to analyze the Type 10.”

“What about the rest of my squad?”

“They’re going to use the catapult.” Minna turned to the other three. “Shone, you’ll light up the catapult ammo. Lynette and Yoshika need to work together to arm and aim it. Can you three do that?”

“One problem.” Shone said. “There’s no ammunition for the catapult that can go that high. It’s meant for closer ranged threats.”

“Damn it. Now what can we-”

“We’ll find a way.” Yoshika spoke up. “Lynette, Shone and I aren’t the kind to give in like that. We’ll figure out how to make use of the Catapult.”

Minna, while a bit unnerved, breathed steadily, and actually went back to her sweet tone. “If you honestly think you can, I won’t stop you.” She turned to the squad, remaining calm. “Look, I’ll stay here to look after Sanya and Eila incase any Neuroi sneak past Charlotte’s Squad. Any more questions?” No one objected.

“Okay, Elite Witches, DEPLOY!” And with the squads deployed to their posts.

 

And not a moment too soon, as The Neuroi dropship was already overhead, preparing to drop troops. Perrine showed up on her Striker Unit, armed with her carbine. “Charlotte, what did I miss?”

“Neuroi Invasion. We’re focusing on the ground units. Gertrud and Erica will handle the dropship, the other ship is Sakamoto’s job.”

Perrine nodded, and decided to activate her magic ahead of time. The space around her lit up, and her hair and skin turned a strong tint of Silver. “My second grade armor should be enough. I’ll upgrade it later if I need to.” She checked her carbine for ammo, and her reserves. “Okay, Charlotte, I’m ready. I’ll cover you from up here.”

 

Gertrud and Erica stood on top of their of their condo. “Ready when Sakamoto is.”

“I hear you.” Minna said, talking into the radio. “I’ll cover Sanya and Eila.”

“Actually” A calm voice said. “We’ll be covering you.” Minna turned around to find the ‘Silver Sisters’ Sanya and Eila behind her.

“What are you-”

“We heard the alarm. We figured the least we could do is stay behind with you to stop whatever may get past.” With that, Minna’s smiled returned at last, and she looked out. “Okay, Sakamoto, you’re squad’s all that’s left.”

“Okay.” Sakamoto said. “I’ll join Gertrud in a minute.”

“You better hurry, It looks like all hell is gonna break loose any minute”

“Understood.” Sakamoto then looked over to the others.

“Sakamoto.” Yoshika spoke up. “Just let us know when you find the core. We’ll deal with the rest.”

“You better know what you’re doing.” And with that, Sakamoto ran off.

“You do know what you’re doing, right?” Shone asked.

“Yeah. Once Sakamoto finds the core, Lynette and I will take to the skies. You’ll light up and fire some flares from here, creating some holes for us whilst we’ll get out of the way. which will leave an opening for us to finish it off.”

“That just might work.” Lynette said, hopefully. The three activated their Striker Units.

That would signal the Neuroi ground Soldiers to land and start the attack.

 

“Minna.” Sakamoto turned to see Eila. “I don’t need to predict the future to know we’ll be fine.”

“Yeah,” Sanya said, opening the window. “but just to be safe…” She fired three rockets at the Neuroi Dropship.

“You Know it’ll just regenerate, right?”

“Yeah, but they move slower when they do so, that’ll give Sakamoto some time to get by without be shot at.”

Minna smiled, and looked outside. She took some comfort to find Charlotte’s squad was handling the situation just fine, with Gertrud and Erica waiting by the ocean.  _Smart girls, they’re waiting for the ship to get to the ocean before shooting it down._

 

Sakamoto wasn’t have much luck with the Type 10. It’s missiles were actually quite easy to dodge, and they went off in mid-air before reaching the base. Using her magic eye, Sakamoto curse herself.  _Damn it, where’s the core!”_  She looked over and over, not seeing anything. And, to make matters worse, the ship was now working on using its laser cannon instead of missiles - much harder to dodge.  _I’ll need to shield from this-_

Her train of thought was stopped by a sudden barrage of laser blasts. Sakamoto quickly did what all she could - shielding, basically - to save herself. However, it didn’t take long for her shield to start cracking.

_Aw, crap…_

Sakamoto’s shield shattered into pieces, sending her flying backwards. Sakamoto tried to get a second wind, but she felt her consciousness begin to fade. Not helping was a small explosion sound effect. She turned her head to see black smoke emitting from her Strike Unit. The ship was now firing bigger laser blasts, getting closer and closer. Sakamoto was able to shield from a direct shot, but  _that_ shattered as well, and this one caused her to start falling.

 

“Oh God…” Shone said, looking out. Without skipping a beat, Lynette threw everything but her Striker Unit down. “I’ll get Sakamoto, You two deal with the Neuroi Ship!” And with that, Lynette started to skin over the water.  _If worse comes to worse, I can carry her back over the water. I AM a water witch…_  Lynette was able to reach Sakamoto in time. However, Lynette was stuck in place, trying to hold the witch without dropping her. “Going to be a slow flight back…”

“Well, Yoshika, got a plan B?” Shone looked to see Yoshika on the ground, distraught. “Yoshika?”

Yoshika was busy in her memories, trying to match them up with reality.  _No… This is Sakamoto… She’s too strong to be shot down. She could just be… she’s… she’s… Sakamoto… I…_

“YOSHIKA!” Yoshika snapped out of her thoughts, and found Shone looking at her. “Pull Yourself together. You need to have faith in Sakamoto and Lynette. If she’s seriously hurt, you can help her after the battle.” He looked toward the Type 10 ship. “Now, what are we going to do about that damn thing?”

“Okay… I think I’ve got it.” Yoshika looked at a surprised Shone. “You can fly, right?”

“Yeah.”  _She’s already got a plan B?_

“Then you’re going to launch us with the catapult.”

“You’re crazy, you know that?”

“It’s the only way we can reach the Neuroi Ship in time before it’s in range of the base.” Yoshika also looked out to the ship. “Now, in the air, you’ll need to fire a flare into the ship. That’ll create a hole.”

“Yeah, but it’ll just recover from that.”

“Yeah, but not fast enough to stop me from getting in there.” Shone had a horrified look. “Shone, That core needs to be destroyed, and we both understand that there’s no faster option.”

Shone, while not on board, nodded in agreement. “Yeah, time is the enemy now.”

 

Shone, getting a bit nervous, pulled the catapult down. The thrusted his sword into the ground, and tied the rope to it’s handle. Hearing an explosion, he turned around and, to his delight, saw the Drop Ship taking some severe damage, having just left the base’s grounds.

Now having a bit more confidence, he jumped in, an armed his flare. “Yoshika, you ready?”

Yoshika jumped in beside him, and put her flight goggles on. “I’m ready.” And with that, Shone fired his flare at the rope. The two went flying through the air.

_This would actually be fun without the life or death situation._  Yoshika thought to herself. Once she and Shone both began to start falling a bit, she yelled “NOW!” And with that, the two fully activated their Strike Units. The two began to fly through the air.

“Hey, Yoshika, look down…” Doing as he asked, she saw Lynette carrying Sakamoto [slowly] across the ocean, back to the shore.

“Hey, Shone?”

“Yes, I will, Yoshika. Don’t worry.” Shone smiled at Yoshika, which she returned.

“Okay… I’m ready.” Yoshika said, signaling Shone to fire. With the loud flare going to, Yoshika made her way into the hole before it managed to shut.

Shone made a nose dive to reach Lynette. “Lynette!” Shone yelled, reaching in rather quickly. “I’ll take Sakamoto. You wait here for a bit to help Yoshika.”

“Where is she?”

“Somewhere inside that thing.” Shone said, taking Sakamoto off of Lynette’s hands. “You better be Okay, Yoshika.”

 

“Wow, this is weird.” Yoshika walked around the inside of the ship. Oddly enough, it would seem the ship was designed for humans, or the humanoid Neuroi at least, to walk around. “But reports show this ship can think for itself. I half to wonder why it would need-”

The answer jumped out in front of her in the form of 5 Type 2 Neuroi. “01001001 01101110 01110100 01110010 01110101 01100100 01100101 01110010 00100001” The Machine said it so fast it was almost impossible to hear the numbers it was saying.

Yoshika, having common sense, ran right past them, knowing she didn’t have time to fight. _Need to find the core. Need to find the core. Need to find the core._

 

Lynette was waiting outside the ship. She notice the ship itself has slowed down a bit.  _It’s been getting slower… But it can’t be in range just yet._

 

“Minna, This is Elma Leivonen of the 507th. We’ve detected a Type 10 in your-”

“WE KNOW, ELMA!” Minna took a deep breathe. “Look, do you have any information on it?”

“Yes, I recommend using Sakamoto to scan the whole ship.”

“We did. I’ve lost contact with her. That said, the ship has nearly stopped.”

“Okay, that’s good. That means Sakamoto must of gotten into the ship. If she encounters any troops in there, she should just ignore them. They’re smarter than the average model. If you want to help, send some people to fire on the outside. Neuroi move more slowly when recovering.”

“We’ll join Gertrud and Erica in the sky.”

Minna nodded, not sure what else to do. When the two girls ran out, Shone ran in, carrying Sakamoto.

“OH GOD! SAKAMOTO!”

“Don’t worry, she’s alive. She’s just out of magic. She needs rest.” Minna had trouble grasping that concept for some time.

“Minna?” The Radio said. “Minna? Are you there?”

Shone picked up the radio communicator. “This is Shone. Minna is.. um… looking after Sakamoto.”

“Sakamoto isn’t in the Neuroi?”

“No, Yoshika is.” Shone said. “Anything she can do?”

“If she can find the core, then she should be able to stop it.”

Shone looked outside to see Charlotte’s squad finishing off the ground units.

 

Lynette heard some Striker Units coming towards her. “Gertrud… Erica… Eila, and Sanya.” Lynette continued to float. She wants to help them, but she left her weapons by the shore, and she’s not going to leave Yoshika in there.

 

Yoshika continued to run through the ship, with more and more Neuroi troops following her.  _I’m up to 25 following me!_  She also notice these troops were firing more often, and were getting more accurate. Yoshika, taking another left, then a few rights, actually managed to find the core!

_This is huge! It’s bigger than any Ground Troop I’ve seen._  Yoshika managed to get down and get close to it. She picked up her machine pistol. “I doubt this will do so.” She then put it up, and then pulled out her sword. “If I can stab it enough, It’ll fall apart: the core itself can’t regenerate!”  _I think._

However, the troops caught up with her. “01101011 01101001 01101100 01101100”

The ship, however, began to shake a bit.

 

A look outside would explain why: Gertrud’s Squad was giving the ship hell. Gertrud never stopped firing her shots, Erica was attacking with electricity - damaging the systems inside. Sanya fired what was left of her ammunition at it.

 

Yoshika decided to start flying upwards to get closer to the core. “Time to destroy.” Yoshika smirked to herself, being able to connect the dots and figures out that the Neuroi stopped firing because of the other witches.

 

_This is for all of you._ Yoshika then shoved her sword into the Core over and over, until it exploded… sending Yoshika flying backwards.

 

\----------

 

“IT’S FALLING!” Erica yelled, happy. The others, while more subdued, were just as happy.

“Wait…” Lynette noticed something. “Yoshika… Yoshika?” Lynette looked at the ship, nervous. “I’m…” She shook her head, and starting darting towards the falling ship. “I’m coming for you!”

 

Yoshika woke up, finding a Neuroi troop deactivated on top of her, with her sword implanted in it’s back. Oh, she also notice the ship was falling. She was somehow able throw it off of her, after pulling her sword out. “How am I going to get out of here?” She started to just stab the floor, realizing just how weak a Neuroi is without it’s core - it shredded apart quite easily. “I could just pull this thing apart!” And that actually worked! In fact, it worked a bit too well. As the very bottom of the ship fell apart, sending Yoshika falling, desperately trying to re-activate her Striker Unit. But with no luck.

 

_Well, this sucks…_

Much to Yoshika’s shock, she was soon grabbed by someone before being squished between some familiar not pillows. “YOSHIKA! YOU’RE ALIVE. OH THANK GOODNESS YOU’RE ALIVE!”

“Yeah…” She said, trying to keep herself under control. “I’m.. I’m okay.”

“So, you ready to go back to the shore?”

“ _I’m just fine here._ ” Yoshika soon turned as red as Lynette was, realising she said that outloud.

“I think they're cute together.” Erica said, looking in a distance. Gertrud just shrugged.

 

“Come on, Yoshika, let’s get back to the base.”

 

\---------

Yoshika, Lynette, and Gertrud’s Squad had all returned to find everyone else watching Sakamoto laying on a bed, asleep, with Minna’s hand over her, glowing white. “Minna! You know medic magic!”

“Not quite, this is Yang Magic. This is dealing with magic itself. I’m giving some to Sakamoto.”

“Hey, Guys. Nice job out there. I heard you did some really good on your own.” Sakamoto smiled, albeit weakly.

“She should be good by tomorrow. In the mean time, I want the rest of you to throw the neuroi parts into the ocean to deteriorate them. We can’t risk them reviving.” Everyone nodded. “After that, take the day off. Do as you please!” And so, the entire division left the room, leaving Sakamoto and Minna alone.

“I’m sorry, Minna.”

“Sh, Sakamoto. It’s not your fault. Things happen, okay?”

“But… a lot of these girls look up to me. I need to be someone for them to look up to.”

“Then start by being smart and staying here.” Minna smiled. “Besides, don’t act like you don’t enjoy my company.”

Sakamoto gave out a weak laugh, “You’re right.” And with that, Sakamoto allowed Minna to tuck her into bed. “So, got any stories? You always seem to have some.”

Minna smiled. “Maybe.”

 

\----------

“Well, that’s all of them!” Charlotte yelled. “I’m going to go take a bath.”

“Wait for me!” Francesca yelled.

“I need one too.” Laura said, followed by Perrine repeating that.

“I’m hungry.” Erica said. “I’m going to cook up some hash browns, anyone want some?” The rest of her squad, and Shone, followed her. Charlotte would of as well if she hadn’t been sweating so much.

“Well... “ Lynette said. “Maybe we could make something to eat, too. I know some good fish-and-chips recipes.”

“Only if you teach me.” Yoshika smiled.

“Oh.. Okay!” And so the two walked back to the condo, both realizing something:

_I’m going to be alone with her… Is that a good thing?_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And Thus marks the end of the Recruitment Arc!


	10. Nations United

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Minna, Yoshika, and Sakamoto end up going to the United Nations, meeting a few interesting faces.

**Chapter 10: In the UN**

A few days after the Neuroi attack on Striker Island, Yoshika, Lynette, and Shone all sat in the kitchen of their little condo. Minna walked into the room. "Hey, gang." She said with her usual calm smile. "Dont worry, Sakamoto is still doing fine. She should be up and moving today." Minna took relief in the relief of the other three breathing a bit easier. "Anyway, thanks for letting me stay here."

"You're welcome." Shone said. "Are you sure you don't just want to take my room while you're here?"

"Thanks, but I'm fine. Besides, where would you have slept?"

"I'm sure Charlotte would of let me stay with her for a bit." That actually prompted Yoshika and Lynette to look over at him. "What?"

"Well, whatever. I'm thankful nonetheless." Minna smiled, right before the group heard Sakamoto getting out of bed. As if that wasn't enough, there was a good deal of knocks at the Condo's door. "Hang on!" Minna looked at them. "Lynette, can you get the door while we check on Sakamoto?"

"Sure." Lynette went to the door, with the others walking to Sakamoto's room to find something they never thought they'd see: Sakamoto struggling to pick something up. (Her giant cannon, to specific).

"Sakamoto… Are you okay?" Yoshika asked, not too sure at what was going on.

"Yeah, Fine." Sakamoto said, turning around to face her squad, showing her face for once being rather sweaty and tired. "I'm just getting used to having limited magic."

 _Sakamoto keeps her cannon in her room?_  was all Yoshika could really focus on, with a puzzling look on her face to match.

Shone also had on such a face, however his train of thought was quite different.  _I can't quite place my finger on it… But something HAS to be up right now. I've seen Sakamoto get attacked once or twice before, and she's never had this much trouble recovering. Top that off with the fact the Minna didn't let Yoshika heal her…_ Shone's train of thought went off the rails, in the sense that his thinking became very sporadic. It then came to a screeching halt alongside Yoshikas when Lynette walked back into the room.

"Hey, Minna, there's a guy from Liberion that's here to see you. He looks like a pilot of some kind." Before anyone could react, Yoshika rushed out the door with a happy look on her face (only Lynette caught that, though).

Once Yoshika got outside, she found out that the pilot… looks nothing like Kyle, despite being dressed up him. "You wouldn't be named Kyle by any chance, would you?"

"Yeah, I am, why?"

_Okay, now I'm REALLY confused!_

"Look, miss, would you happen to know where Minna-Dietlinde Wilcke is?"

"Yes?" Minna answered, coming up behind Yoshika. "I don't believe I've seen you around here."

"Sorry, Minna-Dietlinde, allow me to introduce myself. My Name is Kyle Wills, Liberion Pilot." Kyle noticed three others (just guess who) walked up behind Minna. "I'm here to take you to the United Nations for a meeting." Minna had a surprised look on her face, something so unusual that Yoshika was actually able to come back down to reality to take note just how unusual it was. "Minna-Dietlinde, are you okay?"

 _Damn it… I guess that's what happens when I stay out of my office for four days straight._  "Well, I guess I'll come with you. Anything I need to know?"

"Based on your last report, the UN have request Yoshika Miyafuji and Mio Sakamoto."

Minna looked down a Yoshika, and then turned around to see Sakamoto. "Well, I'd say we've got what we need."

With the sound of stomachs growling, Yoshika challenged Minnas claim. "Everything except breakfast…"

"Well, Miss… Yoshika, right?"  ***nods in agreement***  "We'll make it to the UN in an hour or so, and I have some ration bars to spare."

"Thank you, Kyle Wills." Minna turned around to address Shone and Lynette. "I want you two to let Gertrud know she's in charge while we're gone…"

"Yes, ma'am." The two said, running off to Gertrud's Condo.

"Well, with that settled, would you three follow me?" The three witches followed the pilot to his aircraft. Yoshika had  _never_  seen anything quite like it. It wasn't an airplane of any kind. It looked like a giant shell with four giant sticks on top of it. Strike that, it looks like four giant  _swords_  on top. "Okay, everyone aboard the Hell-Chopper."

_Hell Chopper?_

"That's not what they're really called, Yoshika." Sakamoto said, somewhat weakly. "This is a helicopter. They're built to allow us to safely fly without the Neuroi capturing it." She took time to point at the swords that keep the thing in the air as they board. "You see, Neuroi always seem to try to take things over from the top, at least with ships. And since Helicopters have soldiers armed with guns, the Neuroi will have a hell of a time getting one of these in one piece." Yoshika had a wondrous smile on her face in news of this aircraft's design.

That smile slow but sure faded as her mind began to simply wonder. Her mind eventually settled on Lynette.

**["Chest"** _**Damn it** _

" **Huh?"**

" **Yes, thank you."]**

After reliving  _that_  moment, she then actually began to feel kind of bad about something.  _Lynette's my best friend I have here. But… why do I feel so disconnected from her? For crying out loud, we sleep in the same bed._

Minna was very tempted to ask why Yoshika suddenly tried in impersonate a tomato, but thought better of it.

_Anyway… On top of not actually knowing that much about her, I know for a fact she doesn't know that much about me… all I do is ask question, I never seem to have any answers… not for her or anyone else._

Yoshika was brought out of her rather depressing thoughts by the pilot. "Hey, Yoshika?"

"What?" Yoshika has no intention of mentioning she hasn't noticed they took off nor that she has lost track of time.

"How do you know my name?"

"I… don't. I just happen to know another pilot named Kyle."

"Would his name happen to be Kyle Yeaser?"

"Ye….. YES!" Yoshika got very excited, prompting Minna to remind her they're in a helicopter. "YOU KNOW HIM?!"

"Yeah. We went to the same school. I ended up specializing in these, he became the plane guy."

"Say… Do you know what happened to him? I haven't seen him since I join Strike WItches."

"I…" Kyle's voice was somewhat unnerved. "I thought you would know. I haven't heard from him for some time now."

The rest of the ride was quite. No one was thinking that hard about anything. Well, no one except for Sakamoto, but that's not important just yet.

_**-1 1/2 Hours Later-** _

The helicopter landed on an island located in seemingly nowhere - which was probably the intention. It seemed like a much larger Striker Island to Yoshika. The four walked into the wide but flat building in the center of this base island whatever it is. They walked into a large room, much larger than any given room to be found on Striker Island. "Well,if it isn't Minna. Glad you manage to make it."

"Thank you, Arnold." Minna said, smile. She took a seat at her table, colored to match her head. It had two other chairs set out for Sakamoto and Yoshika. "Please, take a seat. You'd be surprised how fast these tables get seated."

And Minna wasn't lying. The room filled up the other tables fairly quickly with both men and women. Suddenly, Arnold spoke up. "I would like to request a roll call to start today's gathering." There were no objections. "Okay. Arnold F. Rose, President of Liberion. Present." And so the other country leaders began to report themselves as present.

"Illyasviel von Einzbern, Prime Minister of Karlsland. Present."

"Alexander Drenteln, President of Orussia. Present."

"Lauri Malmberg, President of Sumous. Present."

"Ayane Tsukimono, Prime Minister of Fuso. Present."

"François Darlan, President of Gallia. Present."

"Arturo Riccardi, Present of Venezia. Present."

"Louis Mountbatten, Present of Britannia. Present."

"Alois Fürst Schönburg-Hartenstein, President of Ostmark. Present."

Soon enough, all the eyes of the room, minus Yoshika and Sakamoto's, were focus on one young lady, sitting in the table next to Minna. The girl eventually stood up, sighing. "Gundula Rall, current Representative of Romagna. Present."

"Okay." Arnold said. "Now for our leaders of Strike Witches."

"Minna-Dietlinde Wilcke, Commanding Officer of the 501st Division, Elite Witches. Present."

"Gundula Rall, Commanding Officer of the 502nd Division, Brave Witches. Present."

"Bronislava F. Safonov, Commanding Officer of the 503rd Division, Typhoon Witches. Present."

"Federica N. Doglio, Commanding Officer of the 504th Division, Arbor Witches. Present."

"Grete M. Gollob, Commanding Officer of the 505th Division, Mirage WItches. Present."

"Rosalie de Hemricourt de Grunne, Commanding Officer of the 506th Division, Noble Witches. Present"

"Elma Leivonen, Commanding Officer of the 507th Division, Mighty Witches. Present."

"Jane S. Thach, Commanding Officer of the 508th Division, Silent Witches. Present."

"Wilma Bishop, Elected Representative of the 31st Division, Timeless Witches, and the Isle of Wight Detachment Group. Present."

 _Bishop? That… makes her Lynette's Sister, right?_  Yoshika asked herself.

"Okay." Arnold said. "Finally, we have a few others to bring attention to."

"Sasuke Uzami, current Representative of Strike Wizards. Present."

"Jack Ryder, Classified Agent of United Nations. Present."

"Okay, by these accounts…" Arnold said. "We are only missing…"

"Me?" Said a voice of a man who easily looks to be 80 years old, with two men behind him that appear to be in their 70s. The older man had a cane, and is smoking a cigar. "I'm here. Sorry for being late. I honestly had no intention to come, since I had nothing to report. However…" He then looked directly at Yoshika. "I've heard some interesting things happened." He and his men took their seats.

"Well, when it's Minna's turn to report, you might hear what you wish to hear." Arnold said. "Okay, in the usual order, we'll start with countries. I can say Liberion currently has no occurrences worth mentioning."

"I would like to say I'll have nothing to add." Sasuke said.

Illyasviel spoke up. "We have more evidence to support the unnerving idea that Karlsland is having an uprising. We found pistols in towns were no gun stores are to be found. Luckily, there's at least no news in terms of Neuroi attacks." He placed one of them on the table.

"That's an Orussian Pistol." Jack said. "Black Market variant, too." Illyasviel had nothing to report beyond that.

"Anyone else have something to report?" No other statuses have changed, so no one had anything to say. "Okay, Minna, you have the floor."

Minna sat up and spoke. "Striker Island was attacked by out of the blue from a Neuroi Missile Ship. Type 9, I believe." The old man started to lean forward. "Yoshika Miyafuji was able to get inside the ship."

"Oh really?" The old man said with interest. "What was it like in there."

"It… Looked like it was meant to be walked in. I was kind of running for my life, looking for the core, so I didn't make many notes."

The old man walked up to Yoshika. "I say, that's rather impressive for a new comer. I can't remember the last time I've heard someone take down a Neuroi ship alone."

"I wasn't alone… Gertrud and her squad were attacking from the outside, slowing down the Neuroi inside. That's what Minna said, anyway."

The old man smiled. "Well, it seems this generation of Strike Witches has a lot of talent."

"How many Generations have you lived through."

"All of them." He said, causing Yoshika's jaw to drop. "Yeah, I'm a lot older than I'm look. I'm actually over 150 years old." He took a heavy puff of his cigar.

Yoshika got herself together, and managed to display her bluntness once again. "You're very confident, aren't you?"

"YOSHIKA!" Minna said. "Show Lord Guesser some respect."

Guesser laughed, and coughed, a lot. "Now Minna, no need to be hard on her for telling the truth. I've been alive for 150 years of Neuroi Combat, and I don't intend to die tomorrow." He heard Yoshika and Sakamoto's stomachs growl. "I'll tell you what, I'll take these two to the mess hall while you guys finish up." No one objected to Guessers suggestion.

Gundula Rall spoke up. "Minna… I need to make a personal request."

"Yes, Gundula?"

"I promised Jack the the 502nd Division would escort a ship containing new supplies for Strike Witches. The problem is that I can only spare two witches. I'd-"

"Yes, Gundula. I can spare you five witches. Will that do?"

"Yes! Sakamoto alone would do-"

"I can't give you Sakamoto. I can give you Yoshika, Charlotte, Francesca, Perrine, and Laura. Will that do?"

"I'm sure that'll be enough."

"Well…" Arnold said. "If no one has anything else to say, then I hereby dismiss this session."


End file.
